Pedro Acosta emerged from the Thai MotoGP season opener as the championship leader, yet he highlighted a notable area where KTM must improve. The Spaniard surprised many by securing a debut sprint race victory following a penalty against Marc Marquez and ultimately finishing second in the main event on Sunday.
This event marked KTM’s first win since 2023 and the brand’s debut at the top of the MotoGP World Championship standings. Despite these successes, Acosta recognized a key shortfall in KTM’s performance compared to close competitors Ducati and Aprilia.
Top Speed Deficiency Compared to Rival Teams
Acosta pointed to KTM’s struggles in top speed as a significant limitation at Buriram, especially in the early sectors of the track.
Well, it looks like this year our top speed is not great compared to Ducati and Aprilia,
he said.
I’m struggling a lot in the first two sectors of the track.
During qualifying, Aprilia’s Jorge Martin reached the fastest speed of 345.0 km/h, while KTM’s fastest rider, Enea Bastianini, recorded 342.8 km/h. Acosta’s best top speed measured 341.7 km/h. In the Sunday race, Marc Marquez led with 339.6 km/h, while Acosta and KTM teammate Brad Binder both reached 336.4 km/h.
Acosta Capitalizes on Braking Strength in Final Sector
Despite KTM’s speed disadvantage, Acosta was able to offset this with his strong performance in the last sector, particularly at the challenging braking zone—an area where he executed several overtakes.
It’s true that since I’ve come to Thailand, even in the other categories, I was always having a fast T4 and it’s the only place that I was able to overtake,
Acosta stated.
Because then you have this last braking point, and it was my only card in the pocket that I was able to use. For this, I was just trying to maintain the space and then try to attack there.
Focus on Improving Qualifying Performance Ahead of Brazil
Looking ahead to the next round in Brazil, Acosta holds a seven-point lead over Marco Bezzecchi in the championship standings. Nevertheless, improving KTM’s qualifying speed remains a priority after Acosta qualified only sixth at Buriram.
We have to anyway keep working because you can also see that Aprilia and Ducati are still being super-fast in the time attack,
he acknowledged.
This will make our life more easy. It’s true that we are not so bad like last year in time attacks also, but still a way to go.
Acosta’s comments underline the ongoing development efforts needed for KTM to compete consistently with their rivals on both race pace and qualifying speed, especially as the championship progresses.
