Pedro Acosta says KTM's “four riders thinking the same"

Not unusually for the Austrian brand, KTM’s 2025 MotoGP preseason has been hard to call, with occasions of promise and also cause for concern.

The RC16 riders continued working with newer and older specification aerodynamics in this week’s Buriram test, and also switched back and fourth between the older seat unit and the newer design – first seen at the Sepang Shakedown – that appears to incorporate a mass damper.

The brightest of Red Bull KTM’s pair of factory riders was Pedro Acosta in Thailand, the Spaniard ending the opening day fifth, and closing the test fourth overall after the second day.

“We need to be happy,” Acosta said after the Buriram test.

“Again, we tried many things and we are getting the pace quite fast.

“It’s been a good pre-season for me and also for KTM because all four riders are thinking the same way, and the bike has already improved from last year.

“We are faster and it is easier for me to go faster. We need to be calm and then see how we can start the season here.”

In contrast to Acosta, Brad Binder started the test in the top 10 at the end of the first day, on which he suffered a crash, but was down in 12th at the end of day two, behind Trackhouse Racing rookie Ai Ogura.

“Two days here has gone quickly,” the South African said.

“We did some time attacks in the morning today and then a longer run in the afternoon and it was not too bad. Some small steps for sure, and better than when we were here last time.

“I feel that we are doing quite well and we need to put some more small pieces together for when we come back here in two weeks.

“It will be nice to have a full race weekend: I feel like we have done a lot of testing already!”