KTM on Pedro Acosta’s MotoGP future uncertainty: ‘The ball is in our court’

KTM motorsport boss Pit Beirer says “the ball is in our court” in regards to keeping Pedro Acosta happy in MotoGP 2025 amid rumours he could leave the brand.

The Austrian manufacturer endured a difficult winter as it navigated its way through a major financial crisis having totalled debts above €2 billion.

While its future looks brighter now after its restructuring process was approved by creditors last month, KTM has failed to hit the ground running in MotoGP at the start of the 2025 season.

The marque sits fourth in the standings ahead of only Yamaha after two rounds, while its leading rider is Brad Binder in seventh in the championship - 55 points off top spot.

Binder also holds its best result of the season so far with a seventh in Argentina, a far cry from the multiple podiums KTM enjoyed at the start of 2024.

The poor form of the RC16 has reignited rumours that KTM’s prized young superstar Pedro Acosta could leave at the end of the year, with the 20-year-old linked to VR46 Ducati.

Acosta’s manager Albert Valera has moved to quash this speculation, with his rider currently contracted with KTM - with whom he has spent his entire grand prix career - to the end of 2026.

In an interview with Speedweek, Beirer accepts that KTM has made an underwhelming start to 2025 but is “very confident” it can work things out to keep Acosta happy.

“Of course, we're anything but happy with how things started,” he said.

“The results speak for themselves. And that's despite the fact that we've clearly made progress.

“From a speed perspective, we were a good second faster per lap than at the last Argentine GP.

“The Q2 results also prove: The pace is there, but we're not able to maintain it over the distance.

“We are already working hard on solutions. In order to make immediate progress, we wanted to send the test team to the track in Jerez last week for an originally unplanned test.

“Unfortunately, we received a cancellation – the track is not yet ready for use after the recent flooding.

“Nevertheless, we are aware that it is up to us, and therefore we must now work even harder.”

Beirer added: “I'm very grateful to Albert Valera for calmly going through the last very difficult months with us.

“There's also no doubt that we have to give Pedro more than what he currently has.

“As I said – the ball is in our court. Nevertheless, I'm very confident. We've made it to this point together – now we're doing everything we can to reach our goal.”