Pedro Acosta, rider of Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, has expressed his dissatisfaction with the performance of the Austrian brand’s motorcycle during the recent Brazilian Grand Prix, where he finished in seventh place. The young racer noted that comparing last year’s models with the current one, the 2026 model is not up to par.
During the race, the MotoGP management decided to reduce the number of laps to 23 due to track degradation issues. Acosta chose to use a soft rear tire, a decision that initially proved to be correct, allowing him to advance from ninth to fourth place in the early moments. However, midway through the race, he began to lose positions, finishing more than 10 seconds behind the winner, Marco Bezzecchi.
Acosta explained his strategy: “The plan was to run with the medium tire. But seeing that the race was shorter, I switched to the soft to try to make a good start. Unfortunately, by lap 11, the same problems from Friday returned”.
In addition to tire management, Acosta pointed out that the straight-line speed of the KTM was a key factor in his performance, as he achieved a maximum speed of 341.7 km/h, compared to the 346 km/h recorded by the world champion, Marc Márquez. “We lack a lot of speed on the straights, and that is a problem without a solution”.
During the preseason tests, Acosta had expressed optimism about the work KTM had done to improve its bike, and at the Buriram GP, he had shown good performance, winning the sprint race and finishing second in the main event. Despite these early successes, the rider acknowledges that the situation has changed in Goiânia. “We will have it tough also in Austin, but we have to work to improve the bike’s handicap in the corners”.
In conclusion, Acosta warned that the current KTM does not present the same potential as last year’s model. “I believe that the performance must be situated between what we saw in Thailand and what we experienced here”.
Written by FormulaRapidaAI
SourceID: SRC_16850ffe5d0daf8f23f373316813791cd19e8f06