The innocuous change that has transformed Pedro Acosta’s Aragon MotoGP

Pedro Acosta says a technical change from the 2025 Aragon MotoGP to this year’s edition of the MotorLand race has left him with less stability.

Acosta was solid in Aragon last year, finishing fifth in the Sprint and fourth on Sunday. 

But on Friday in 2026 he crashed in FP1 at turn 12 on a lap that had already been ruined by running wide at turn five, and in Practice he managed only the eighth-fastest time, over half-a-second off the new lap record set by Marco Bezzecchi.

A change in the front tyre allocation from Michelin compared to the 2025 edition of the Aragon MotoGP meant that Acosta was unable to find the front-end support he was looking for.

“Well, could be a better day but it’s true that it could be even worse,” Pedro Acosta said after Practice in Aragon.

“For this, happy on one side because we improved the bike from FP1 to PR, and I hope that tomorrow we can make another step. 

“But it’s true that it’s getting more difficult than what I expected, being honest. 

“Last year it’s true that I raced with the hard front and here we don’t have that tyre; it was giving me a bit more support and it’s exactly what I was missing today. 

“For this, now it’s the moment to chill a bit, try to understand what is going on in the data, also compared with the other KTMs, and see what we can do.”

Acosta added that the lack of the hard-compound front tyre that was available last year in Aragon is contributing to a feeling of understeer from the RC16: “I’m struggling with the stability in the front and I’m always understeering. 

“That’s the reason that last year I raced with the hard front. I hope that tomorrow we can improve.”

Since Aragon was resurfaced before the 2024 race, track grip has always been a topic of discussion. Acosta said that on Friday the surface was quite dirty, and that it was surprising for the lap record to be broken by Bezzecchi.

“I’m quite surprised that it’s [track grip] quite low, being honest,” the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing rider said.

“Quite low, but we are breaking the lap record. It’s quite difficult to understand. 

“It’s true that it’s a bit dirty; when you are behind somebody in the back straight, it’s like [a lot of] sand coming up. 

“I hope that in the next days we can clean a bit the track and improve a bit because if you go a bit wide you’re a bit in the limit.”