Austrian MotoGP: Acosta shows what he can do with equal machinery

Finally, it’s happened: Pedro Acosta has taken his first MotoGP victory, on his 56th attempt. The former Moto2 and Moto3 world champion was a superstar from the moment he arrived in the premier class two and a half years ago, but he’s never had the motorcycle to make it to the top step of the podium until last weekend.

The 22-year-old Spaniard has everything going for him: a sublime ability to ride a motorcycle beyond its limits, a rock and roll swagger that reminds us of 1993 MotoGP king Kevin Schwantz and a desire to entertain, which reminds us of nine-time world champion Valentino Rossi. Witness his cooldown-lap victory celebration, when he stopped where he had crashed out of Saturday’s sprint, laid his KTM RC16 on the ground and rolled around alongside, the previous day’s agony superseded by ecstasy.

Acosta’s first MotoGP success was also KTM’s first dry-weather win in more than five years, which highlights how the embattled Austrian manufacturer has struggled to keep up with MotoGP’s runaway tech giants: Ducati and Aprilia.

In recent races, the gap has shrunk somewhat, which is why no one has scored more points than Acosta at the last three grands prix.

During MotoGP’s summer break, KTM was allowed to open its engines to replace faulty parts that had caused problems earlier in the season.

KTM has also been able to up its development efforts, following a nightmare year and more during which the company teetered on the brink of bankruptcy. KTM was so broke at times that it relied on its MotoGP staff to fuel up their trucks on their own credit cards, because the company cards were blocked. Thus KTM certainly didn’t have money to invest in R&D.

One outward sign of this renewal is the RC16’s hammerhead downforce front fender, which reduces wheelies to increase acceleration.

Acosta, who moves to Ducati in six weeks, also changed during the summer break, sharpening his mentality and pushing his engineers to take more risks with set-up changes, in search of more performance.

“Every week he’s improving at a rate that’s incredible,” said his crew chief Paul Trevathan. “He’s riding so well and maybe we were lagging behind him, so we needed to take more risks in set-up. After the summer break it was, let’s go for it!”

KTM’s fairytale Austrian weekend – five years after Brad Binder’s wet/dry victory at the same track – was completed by something hugely significant that went largely unnoticed.

Last November, KTM was saved from oblivion by Indian brand Bajaj Auto, the world’s third-biggest motorcycle manufacturer. Company CEO Rajiv Bajaj, the founder’s grandson, isn’t a big race fan, so there were doubts about his commitment to KTM’s MotoGP project. Those concerns were put to rest in Austria, where his deputy Dinesh Thapar was in attendance, the first member of senior Bajaj management to visit a MotoGP event.

Acosta was stunning all weekend, apart from his rookie error in the sprint, when he was distracted by a dash warning, and a warm-up tumble. He was mostly several tenths faster than the rest of the grid, which is something that’s never happened before.

“Somehow the bike completely matched the track and the tyres from day one,” he said while celebrating his victory.

“Ducati and Aprilia are in a different world, compared to the other manufacturers, so we don’t have many chances to do it [win],” he added.

So, apart from engine and aero upgrades, what made the KTM so competitive at Red Bull Ring?

First, KTM’s RC16 makes much of its speed with the front tyre, a bit like Honda’s RC213V when Marc Márquez was at Honda. Second, and arguably more importantly, was the rear tyre.

Red Bull Ring was the second of three venues at which Michelin equips riders with its heat-resistant rear slick. The other two are Buriram – where Acosta won the sprint – and Mandalika, venue for the Indonesian GP later this month.

This special tyre features a stiffer casing that offers less drive grip than Michelin’s regular rear slick. But, like Acosta said, the tyre doesn’t seem to bother the KTM, which usually struggles to lay down its power as efficiently as the Aprilia and Ducati.

“We don’t have a lot of grip to start with, so…” said team-mate Brad Binder, who underlined the tyre’s happy marriage with the RC16 by scoring his best result of the year in sixth place.

Indeed, Binder led reigning world champion Marc Márquez at one point, until his dash told him he was running low on fuel, so he had to switch to a lower-power engine map.

Without that fuel issue, the race might have finished without a Ducati in the top five.

The last time that happened was at Buriram, where despite issues with the special rear tyre, Marc Márquez was heading for the podium until he buckled a wheel rim. The last time before that was Valencia in 2020, more than 80 GPs ago.

Ducati’s Desmosedici really doesn’t like the heat-resistant slick, hence the Bologna brand’s struggles throughout the weekend.

Yes, Ducati had won the previous four Austrian GPs, but that’s because the Desmosedici enjoyed such a tech advantage at that time that it could win in spite of the special tyre. That advantage has shrunk to nothing during the last 12 months.

“We struggled a lot in Thailand and we’re struggling again here,” said Márquez, who came home in fifth place, also hampered by a front-brake problem. “We know it’s the different casing, but the casing is the same for everybody, so we need to understand how to be better with this casing.”

Ducati riders were visibly in trouble all weekend, their bikes failing to hook up exiting turns, the tyre spinning and the suspension pumping, costing them vital time.

The Desmosedici makes its speed with the tyre’s shoulder, braking into corners and accelerating out, but the bike couldn’t do this at Red Bull Ring, because the harder casing doesn’t deflect (squish) like the usual rear slick, so it doesn’t offer the same traction.

Meanwhile, the KTM and the Aprilia use the tyre better. Aprilia’s RS-GP is more of a corner-speed bike, so it uses the edge of the rear tyre, which is largely unaffected by the stiffer casing.

“More than this circuit, it’s about this casing,” said Alex Márquez, who had a horrible weekend, which he completed by crashing out on Sunday. “It’s about how Aprilia put the power down and how they transfer the power to the track.

“We have a bike that is more stop-and-go, so we depend more on having good rear grip, whereas they can carry more speed at the apex. Then they can be a bit smoother on the throttle [because they already have more exit speed].”

But how come Bagnaia scored his best result since before the summer break?

“We are still missing grip,” said the former champion who is having a woeful 2026. “But here all the Ducatis have the same issue.”

While Acosta and KTM stole the headlines in Austria, Aprilia could hardly have had a better weekend. Jorge Martin won the sprint and chased Acosta home on Sunday to retake the championship lead from Márquez, while early points leader Marco Bezzecchi finished third in both races to keep his title hopes alive. At the same time, the Noale factory retook the constructors’ championship lead from Ducati

Martin was on dazzling form – all action and high risk, extracting everything from the Aprilia and remaining ice cool under pressure from team-mate Bezzecchi, who gave a valiant chase on Sunday, building towards a late-race challenge, until he messed up Turn 1 and lost a couple of tenths.

Ai Ogura completed Aprilia’s delight with a stirring ride to fourth, less than a second behind Bezzecchi, after missing the previous two GPs with a broken thumb.

Martin now leads the title fight by eight points with seven races to go, unless next month’s Qatar GP is cancelled due to the US/Iran conflict in the Middle East.

There is no doubt that the 28-year-old Spaniard has the best bike on the grid, but his duel with Márquez is likely to swing this way and that as MotoGP heads to Asia and then back to Europe.

Motegi – venue for next week’s Japanese GP – is a stop-and-go track, where Ducati usually has the advantage. Usually.

The next race at Mandalika will definitely favour the Aprilia, for the aforementioned reasons. Also, the Indonesian circuit may already be giving Márquez nightmares, because he’s never even finished a race there.