KTM enlists Pedro Acosta for 2025 development: “Three bikes in the box today”
"It has been the first test where we were able to really use him for this"
Pedro Acosta had three different RC16s in his garage for the Misano MotoGP Test as KTM enlisted their future factory rider to help with development.
“We were working with Pedro on primary confirmations for 2025 and aspects of the bike we want to improve,” said Sebastian Risse, KTM/GASGAS Technical Manager.
“With Pedro we have now arrived at a point where he has good experience and with his ability on how he can adapt and react to things it puts him in a very good position for us to develop: it has been the first test here where we were able to really use him for this.”
Acosta joined 2025 team-mate Brad Binder in making his debut on the prototype RC16 - featuring a different engine, aero and exhaust - developed by test riders Pol Espargaro and Dani Pedrosa.
Another of his machines was seen with a different tail unit and new top exhaust.
The 20-year-old, who crashed out of Sunday’s grand prix, impressed with fourth on the timesheets behind only the GP24 trio of Francesco Bagnaia, Franco Morbidelli and Enea Bastianini.
“Well, super-happy about how the test went,” Acosta said. “Today we tried many things and overall I’m quite pleased because many of these new things are helping us also for this season.
“Let’s see how it goes and when we can start using them.
“There were three bikes in the box today and that’s the first time I’ve seen this. We need to be happy; we tried and found many things let’s try to catch up for the next GP.”
While the KTM race riders cannot modify their engine design during the season, they can change things like the chassis, exhaust and some aero parts.
Tech3 team manager Nicolas Goyon said: “The good thing is that most of the parts have been positive and we can use them this season.”
Acosta’s team-mate Augusto Fernandez, Leaving the team at the end of this season, rode only in the morning session. The Spaniard, tipped to become a Yamaha test rider next season, set the 20th-best lap time of the day.
“A shame that we could not do our whole plan in the morning [due to a damp track] but the things we tried we are sure about. That’s a positive,” Fernandez said. “It took some time to change things but we have the direction we want. I hope the next rounds will show some of the work we’ve done here.”
“Augusto focused on the rear suspension,” explained Goyon.
Tech3 riders will be back at Misano next week for the Emilia Romagna round from September 20-22.
