Austrian MotoGP KTM’s “match point” - Acosta

The Austrian Grand Prix marks an important race on the MotoGP calendar for KTM, which has won twice at the Red Bull Ring, and therefore for its riders, too.

The KTM RC16 spent a vast amount of its early development time doing laps of the Red Bull Ring, a circuit that Tech3 GasGas rider Pedro Acosta says suits the bike well and which arrives at an important moment in KTM’s season.

“Our bike was born a few kilometres from here (Mattighofen),” Acosta said. “We don’t really know why, [but] it’s one of the best tracks for our bike, and for sure for the four riders from Pierer Mobility Group I think it’s going to be a ‘match point’ to start to recover confidence and to make a good result in the next races.”

Acosta, though, is sure that an upturn in KTM’s fortunes is on the way.

“The last couple of races was maybe a combination of factors that was not helping us to be competitive,” he said.

“But I think now, counting Austria plus Aragon, Misano, and the overseas races, will help us to be competitive again.”

In addition to more favourable tracks, Acosta attributes any incoming performance improvements for KTM to the work of the test team, including Pol Espargaro who is wildcarding at the Red Bull Ring this weekend.

“Also, how the factory is working," he said, "and Pol [Espargaro] will also be here riding, and how much we are listening to Dani [Pedrosa] and Pol in the last couple of months, for sure we are going to make a big, big step to the front.”

Despite being only a few months away from stepping across from the Tech3 team to the factory KTM team, Acosta insists he has no knowledge of what Espargaro is testing this weekend.

“To be honest, I don’t know anything,” he said. “The only thing that I know is that tomorrow is FP1 and we need to pass to Q2 in PR. Not too much to be honest. This problem will come in the future, let’s try to focus on the problems that we have now.”

Acosta himself was testing at the Red Bull Ring in the summer break, before the British Grand Prix. He rode a Kalex Moto2 bike with WP suspension. It was seen as a test, but, confirming what CFMoto Aspar Moto2 rider Jake Dixon said after his British Grand Prix victory, Acosta said he tested nothing new for the Austrian suspension brand.

“We were not really developing anything,” Acosta said. Instead, the test was about his desire to put in laps on what he called “a proper bike in a proper MotoGP track”.

“It was more that I wanted to make laps clear,” he said. “At the end, there are not many times during a season to make proper laps with a proper bike in a proper MotoGP track. It’s quite easy to go around Spain and go to Valencia and Jerez and Aragon, but to go to a track like this is quite difficult.”

Acosta explained that, because he was riding at the same time as Dani Pedrosa and Pol Espargaro, he was able to develop some understanding of how the KTM MotoGP bike works at Austria, giving him, as a rookie, a slight headstart this weekend compared to races at other circuits.

“I was just making laps and understanding how was the situation,” Acosta said. “Also, it was the same days that Pol [Espargaro] and Dani [Pedrosa] were testing the [KTM MotoGP] bike, and I was able to more or less follow, for some metres when they passed me, and see how they were riding and the lines and everything.

“For this, maybe it can be a little bit easier arriving to this weekend, because I start more or less from a little bit more time on the track.”