Pedro Acosta: KTM needs “to make the step that Yamaha made” for MotoGP development

Factory KTM rider Pedro Acosta says that, for the development of its own MotoGP project, the Austrian marque needs to aim for similar progress to what Yamaha has achieved between 2024 and 2025.

Yamaha scored no podium finishes in 2024, but in the beginning of the current season it has been on the podium in Spain, and on pole in both Spain and France.

At this weekend’s British Grand Prix, Yamaha had three bikes in the top-10 on Friday – only the recently-returned Miguel Oliveira missing out on a direct Q2 spot – while no KTMs made it.

“Well, to be honest, it’s quite sad that the four KTMs are out,” the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing rider said after Practice at Silverstone..

“It’s true that even Q2 today was really close, because normally [the top-10 is covered by] one second, but today was 0.5 seconds.

“I mean, you go [a little bit] faster and you are there.

“It’s clear that the bike is not good enough, we need to make the step that Yamaha made because these guys are unbelievably fast now – every one, and Oliveira will be because these guys have talent like you can’t imagine but he’s taking his time.”

Acosta said he wasn’t certain why the Yamaha was working so well at Silverstone, but suspected it was about corner speed.

“Normally a Yamaha always has this super-good turning, from many years ago,” he said.

“I don’t know because I was not behind anyone, but something they are making good because Jack [Miller] was quite fast in Le Mans also, Fabio [Quartararo] made the pole position; today in dry we have three of these bikes in Q2.

“It’s not that they will win, but they are making a massive step compared to how they were struggling last year.”

Acosta added that he was frustrated by KTM’s performance on Friday because he felt more comfortable than he had before at Silverstone.

“In my opinion, in my way of seeing things, it was the day in Silverstone that I was most competitive, because normally I struggle to be competitive here,” he said.

“And it was not enough, that’s it – it was not enough.”

Acosta added that there was margin in KTM’s performance on Friday but not enoguh that amounted to the their deficit to the top.

“It’s just that we are not good enough,” he said. “The bike was feeling fantastic – there were some things that we [could do] better, but it’s not this half-second that we are missing, it’s one tenth.

“Okay, this tenth would put us in Q2. But the reality is that the four KTMs are out of Q2 and you have three Yamahas, five Ducatis, and two Hondas.

“This is the reality: we need to make a step, that’s it. The bike was good, the front feeling was fantastic compared to the beginning of the season; things to improve in traction but not [a lot].

“The bike was working well, but just we were not fast enough or we were not good enough.”

He added: “I’m happy with the bike, but it’s so hard to say I’m happy with the bike when I’m 11th, out of Q2, and 0.5 seconds slower than the fastest. It’s not logical.

“The reality is that the bike is working well, it’s much better than the beginning of the season. In this track, somehow, it’s better than last year, but somehow the conditions or whatever is not helping us.”

Acosta confirmed that he is still on the 2024-spec RC16 having switched at Le Mans, but said he, Brad Binder, and Maverick Vinales are working in “one direction”.

“I am still [on the 2024 bike],” he said.

“We are focused in one direction, we are in that one more or less all the riders – I don’t know Bastianini because I was not looking at him, to be honest. But we are not that far [from each other] here.”