Pedro Acosta brutally honest on KTM beating Ducati in MotoGP 2025

Factory KTM rider Pedro Acosta says he “enjoyed a lot” riding his 2025 MotoGP bike in testing but remains reserved in his predictions about facing Ducati this season.

The 20-year-old comes into his second year in the premier class with expectations on his shoulders to win races and possibly even fight for the title, after a strong rookie campaign in 2024.

Acosta ended pre-season testing strongly on the RC16, though where KTM fits into the pecking order overall is still unknown after a mixed winter for the brand.

Finishing 395 points behind Ducati in the constructors’ championship last year, KTM appears to still be a step behind the Italian manufacturer coming into 2025.

Asked how he rates KTM’s chances of being able to fight Ducati this year, Acosta cautiously replied: “We hope. At the end, racing is completely different to testing.

“At the end, here, you have to be ready maybe when you don’t want to be ready because on Friday we have PR [Practice] and then qualifying is only 15 minutes.

“At the end, in a test you do what you want in the time you want. Racing is different, but we hope.”

He added: “[I’m] pumped to start the season. I enjoyed this winter a lot, I was enjoying it a lot on the bike.

“It’s true that now everything starts from zero and we have to see what is going on.

“But super happy to be back racing with a lot of people and a lot of colours around.”

KTM appeared to struggle with excessive tyre wear during the Buriram test on long runs, which is something Acosta admits is still a concern.

“Well, it’s going to be a question mark,” he said.

“Now it’s much hotter than the week that we came and it’s not going to be easy, but it was also not easy last year for this.

“So, we need to be calm and arrive and see how we have to manage the tyre.”

Mental work offers Pedro Acosta 2025 boost

Acosta revealed on Thursday in Thailand that he has been working on his mental strength over the winter as he strives to find more consistency this season.

While Acosta’s speed was never in doubt in 2024, he allowed many strong results to go begging through errors.

Asked how he felt with a year of experience coming into 2025, Acosta replied: “Much more calm.

“Maybe not many things changed this winter, but I was working a lot on my head, trying to calm the doubt that was inside.

“At the end, we see with [Jorge] Martin maybe he didn’t win many races [last year] but he won the championship.

“Don’t get me wrong, you need to be on the podium every week and winning races.

“But at the end, the consistency is what gave him the championship.

“It’s the thing we need to look for, it was the thing that I was missing last year.

“Counting the season that I had last year, I counted like 15 [crashes], was too much, but we need to be calm.

“[There] was many people around, especially one who was really helping myself.

“Was really my back during the winter and also during the pre-season testing.

“I was quite pumped to have this person around. He really helped me to be calm and to know how to use the head. I’m quite happy about it.”

He refused to say who he had been working with.

Quotes provided by Crash MotoGP Editor Peter McLaren