Pedro Acosta jets off to KTM HQ with “one-way ticket” to seek answers

Pedro Acosta will spend part of his summer break in Austria at KTM’s headquarters.

Their standout MotoGP rider of this season hopes to gain insight into the overall project, and understand why his bike’s competitiveness has ebbed away at recent rounds.

Although he has found (deserved) time in the past few days to go to Ibiza with Jorge Martin, Aleix and Pol Espargaro, his attention will shortly turn to business matters.

"I have a one-way ticket, but not a return ticket,” Acosta told Relevo about his trip to KTM’s HQ.

“We'll see how many days and weeks I stay there.

"It is always better to convey things face to face. If I spend a week there, or however long it may be, every day there are new questions and new things to do. And I also go to meet people."

Acosta took MotoGP by storm in the early rounds of this year, as the only rookie on the grid.

The Tech3 GASGAS rider claimed podiums in Portugal and Texas, two of the first three grands prix.

But retirements at Le Mans and Assen - and a failure to live up to bold predictions that he’d win in Jerez - mean his season has tapered off.

Aprilia have emerged as the closest contenders to the dominant Ducatis, even if Acosta remains KTM’s most competitive rider ahead of Brad Binder.

Acosta said: “Having this Austrian mentality that I have grown up with in the championship of 'we are better than what we are doing' perhaps makes me see that we can always get better.

“I'm not looking for an excuse. I'm looking for the solution.

“First, I'm going to meet people and see what happens on the first day and how everything works. So that when I go to sleep on the first day I understand all the roles and who is in charge in each place, and why things are done.

“It is very easy to criticise or demand things that you don't know how they are going.

“I prefer to first inform myself and see why things are not done or who gives power to one and who takes it away from another, to be able to see what paths to take.

"You have to get into the problem to see the problem.

“I knew I wanted to be here and I still want to be here. Nobody has put me in the lion's den.

“Now it's my turn to open it and go out on my own.”