KTM MotoGP difference to Ducati “becoming closer” - Pedro Acosta

KTM MotoGP rider Pedro Acosta says he feels the Austrian marque’s gap to Ducati is decreasing at the beginning of the 2025 MotoGP season.

Although Acosta feels that the RC16 still has room for improvement, he said he feels the gap to the leading Ducatis has become smaller since the beginning of the season, especially in race conditions.

“For me, at the beginning of the season, the gap was much bigger, now it’s becoming closer,” the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing rider said on Thursday ahead of the Grand Prix of the United Kingdom.

“Still many things to work on because Ducati is super-strong at the moment they release the brake.

“But it’s true that as the laps are passing and the tyres are becoming used, we are able to be more or less closer, but at the beginning of the races we are losing a lot and in my case even more in qualifying.”

Even if the gap is closing, though, Acosta is realistic about his targets for the coming races.

“First of all, we need to start to be consistently in the top-five and then dream of the podium,” Acosta said.

“It was not an easy start of the year for us or for any KTM but we are getting in the pace again.

“We need to try to be closer.”

Pedro Acosta: Silverstone “not an easy track for me”

For a rider who won two titles in his first three years in the World Championship, Acosta’s Silverstone record is relatively underwhelming, having scored only one podium in four visits.

The Spaniard acknowledged that the layout of the British track is not one that is easy to get to grips with.

“It’s not an easy track for me, super-flowing; trying to connect these corners in sector three is never easy,” Acosta said.

“It’s also true that I have not been coming for many years, but the years that I came it was n that good like in other tracks.

“I really like the country, it’s one of these places that can surprise the weekend with the weather or somehow it’s somehow a special weekend. For this, somehow I like it.”

For this year’s event, Acosta was concerned by the weather, which could bring rain this weekend, although the Spaniard was equally aware that KTM has things to improve on over the 2024 race in terms of tyre wear.

“Let’s see what’s going on,” Acosta said.

“It’s never easy to come to Silverstone and see the weather forecast quite tricky like it looks for this weekend.

“Last year was not bad at all, it’s true that we were struggling a bit more in the race with the tyre life, but, to be honest, it was not a bad weekend at all.

“Let’s try to keep in the way that we are coming from Qatar, step-by-step we are getting closer. It’s true that there is still a way to go, but we are arriving where we want.”