Pedro Acosta names the one thing he’d like KTM to take from Ducati

The domination enforced by Ducati on the MotoGP field has continued so far in 2025, with the Bologna brand locking out all four podiums so far including Sprints and Grands Prix, while manufacturers like KTM have made limited progress – much to the frustration of riders like Pedro Acosta.

Acosta, in fact, said at the Argentinian Grand Prix last weekend that he felt KTM had regressed, rather than moved forward, over the winter, as he slumped to a ninth-place finish in the Sprint, and an eighth in the Grand Prix – this following on from a similarly underwhelming race in Thailand.

With such a chasm between Ducati and the rest of the field, a rider with the kind of ambition of Red Bull KTM’s Acosta – twice a World Champion, and a race winner in all three of his Grand Prix seasons before arriving in MotoGP with the Austrian factory – could be expected to look at the Desmosedici and pick the things he would like to be transferred from that bike onto his.

But rather than any specific technical innovation, it’s an engineer that Acosta would like to bring from Borgo Panigale to Mattighofen, namely Ducati Corse General Manager Gigi Dall’Igna.

“Well, it's clear that Gigi [Dall'Igna] is one step ahead of the others,” Acosta told AS when asked what he’d like KTM to have that Ducati has at the moment.

“That's clear. Seeing how the category has progressed, which I was looking at the other day, in the end he was the one who invented many of the things we're all using now, like the [ride height] devices, and what we don't know what they have.

“When you invent something, you're always one step ahead of the others. Everything, everything.

“In general, modern MotoGP has been a copy and paste of what all the brands were doing. Nobody had wings at the beginning, and then all the brands started putting small wings on them.

“I remember the year [Jorge] Lorenzo debuted with the Ducati, there were complaints because the wings were so big you could fit an arm inside and all you could see were the wings.

“They're one step ahead. What do I like? I wish I could test ride one to say what I like more about that bike than mine.”

Acosta's comments come after speculation began during the winter that the Spaniard could make a switch to Ducati machinery for the 2026 season if KTM's results don't improve, or if the Austrian factory's financial issues prevent it from competing beyond 2025.

In Argentina, those rumours became focused on a move for Acosta to Ducati's official satellite team, Pertamina Enduro VR46, although team boss Pablo Nieto was clear that the team is committed to Franco Morbidelli, who was on the podium for the first time since 2021 at Termas de Rio Hondo.