KTM hit back after Pedro Acosta exit rumours

KTM motorsport boss Pit Beirer says rumours about Pedro Acosta leaving for another MotoGP team in 2026 are being taken as “a compliment”, while reiterating that “he’s under contract” to the brand.

The financial crisis that threatened KTM’s future over the winter coupled with its lacklustre start to the 2025 MotoGP season has sparked rumours that Pedro Acosta could quit the Austrian marque at the end of the year.

Acosta has been linked to a move to the VR46 Ducati team, as well as Honda and even Pramac Yamaha.

On Friday at the Qatar Grand Prix, Valentino Rossi expressed his support for Acosta but refused to say too much on the current rumours.

Acosta is in the midst of a multi-year deal with KTM, after signing a new contract to join the factory squad for 2025 following his stellar rookie campaign last year with the Tech3 team.

Having visited the podium twice after three rounds in 2024, Acosta currently sits 13th in the standings on 16 points having achieved a best of ninth in Argentina (which became eighth after a post-race penalty for Ai Ogura).

Beirer says the interest in Acosta is a “compliment” to KTM, who has supported the 20-year-old throughout his short grand prix career, while claiming he is not worried about the situation as there is a contract in place.

“I think I take it as a compliment and if all these superstars find out now that Pedro is a good rider, we found out many, many years ago,” he told the MotoGP world feed on Saturday in Qatar.

“And that’s why we supported him already since he was in the Rookies Cup. So, he’s under contract with us and also there I feel ok and I take it as a compliment.

“It’s ok, that’s also racing. Good teams want to have good riders, so we have to perform together and make Pedro feel comfortable to be here.”

KTM woes being blamed on financial crisis is “bull****”

KTM has struggled for form with its new bike so far in 2025, with it seemingly missing braking performance while the vibration issues it battled in 2024 remain.

Given the financial crisis KTM faced over the winter, reports emerged that it had paused all bike development and would be scaling back its testing programme.

But Beirer hit back at these claims, noting that KTM is continuing to bring new items to race weekends and that its testing programme has been unfortunately affected by bad weather.

“I got angry even at one point because it looks like everybody has put everything in the same pot, like if there is a KTM crisis, results are not coming, they don’t have money to buy parts,” he said.

“And that’s all, in the end, bullshit because we went prepared into the season, we brought many new parts but then we just couldn’t put the package right together.

“Then rumours we couldn’t go testing [because of the financial crisis]. No, we couldn’t go testing because the test track at Jerez was broken [due to flooding].

“So, there was a plan to be there, then last week we had a test in Misano but because of weather conditions was also not a great test.

“We have been in the wind tunnel the other week. So, we are giving everything, we have a strong team at home working for the riders.

“And then at the end of the day, all of that together, no results, it’s easy to blame the crisis.

“No, we are I would say prepared for the future at KTM and we have so much support in the company to keep racing on a very strong level.”