Pedro Acosta explains KTM’s Indonesian Grand Prix struggles

Pedro Acosta says Ducati and Aprilia have made a clear step compared to 2025, as KTM struggles for pace at the MotoGP Indonesian Grand Prix.

The one-time MotoGP race winner was expected to be a podium contender coming into the Mandalika weekend, having finished second in the last two Indonesian Grands Prix.

But Pedro Acosta could only manage ninth in qualifying and sixth in the sprint, after being served with a long lap penalty for exceeding track limits.

“There was not much more to do”

The KTM rider says he has struggled with instability throughout the weekend on his RC16 and felt a top five was the absolute limit in Saturday’s 13-lap sprint.

“There was not much more to do,” he said.

“I’m suffering a lot of instability during the weekend.

“I was just trying really hard to match their lap times in sector two.

“And I was having massive shakes. I touched the green three times, but it is what it is.

“Like I say, there was not much more to do. Top five was already OK.

“Maybe top four, top three if they battled a bit more. But [Jorge] Martin was faster than me. Clearly, top five was the maximum we could catch today after a bad qualifying.”

“My bike hasn’t changed so much”

Acosta believes the deficit KTM is experiencing is down to the bike not improving much from last year, whereas Aprilia and Ducati have.

Asked if the track surface changed between Friday and Saturday, he replied: “I don’t think so, because Aprilia and Ducati are still as fast as yesterday. I don’t know. I was struggling a lot; that’s the only thing I know.

“I don’t know how much the other bikes have changed, but my one hasn’t changed so much.

“We are just being fast with more or less the same bike, and Ducati and Aprilia are just faster.

“We are not far, because we are faster than last year. But the problem is when you have a good track for Aprilia, normally the four Aprilias are working [well] and normally Ducati works pretty well everywhere.

“It’s not that we’ve become worse; the problem is our competitors have improved more.”