Pedro Acosta says he is leaving KTM for Ducati because he feels he has “no more time to lose” in his pursuit of a championship-winning MotoGP bike.
The Spaniard has enjoyed a long and successful relationship with KTM since joining the manufacturer's ranks at the end of 2020, fresh from winning the Red Bull Rookies Cup.
He quickly climbed up the grand prix racing ladder with the Austrian marque’s backing, winning Moto3 and Moto2 titles in quick succession before making his MotoGP debut in 2024 with Tech3.
While Acosta finished an impressive fourth in the standings last year after stepping up to the factory KTM team, he inked a new deal with Ducati to join Marc Marquez at the start of MotoGP’s 850cc era in 2027.
Although his relationship with the Mattighofen management has remained strong, the 22-year-old said he had to jump ship when an opportunity arose, insisting he could not afford to wait any longer for KTM to produce a bike capable of beating MotoGP’s benchmarks Ducati and Aprilia.
“Things come like that. I already said when I signed my factory contract, that the only thing that I wanted was a bike to win the championship. It is clear that this bike has not arrived yet,” he explained.
“To be honest, I have no more time to lose. I got a lot of experience in KTM, but also I was feeling that [Ducati] was the challenge that I needed for my career.”
While the RC16 has improved considerably since Acosta moved up to MotoGP, with key gains made in areas like tyre degradation, it still trails the Ducati GP26 and the Aprilia RS-GP in both one-lap and race trim.
As such, while Acosta has emerged as one of the most consistent riders on the grid, he has yet to register a grand prix win. KTM itself hasn’t won a Sunday race, wet or dry, since Miguel Oliveira’s triumph in a rain-soaked Thai GP in 2022.
Ducati, on the other hand, has won the riders’ championship for the last four years in a row, even though its supremacy has come under serious challenge from Aprilia this year.
KTM never expected Acosta to leave
Acosta’s departure to Ducati created a difficult situation for KTM, which had to rethink its long-term plans after building its MotoGP project around the Spaniard. Acosta’s contribution to the factory has been such that he scored twice as many points as his team-mate Brad Binder last season.
In a candid interview, KTM Motorsport boss Pit Beirer admitted that the Spaniard’s exit initially left the team in a frustrating situation, having never expected him to leave for a rival brand.
“We had to swallow that Pedro wants to leave us because he's been so long with us: Rookies Cup, Moto3 world champion, Moto2 world champion, broken leg, coming back; so many things we went through together,” Beirer told MotoGP.com. “Then, we were just building the project together with him as a rider.
“But as always, life goes on. There is one moment that was quite frustrating honestly because we never planned for a replacement. We were putting all the cards on him somehow.
“But as always, if one door is closing, another one is opening, and then we just could see that these boys [Alex Marquez and Fabio di Giannantonio] are developing really strong; they made both of them another clear step this year in performance, and to get in contact with them, to talk to them, to make a deal with them was refreshing.”
Acosta believes KTM will be in good hands next year after recruiting last year’s runner-up Marquez and two-time grand prix winner di Giannantonio to form a completely new line-up.
“They take this world champion, Alex, and a guy that now is the number two of Ducati [Di Giannantonio] at the moment. They have good cards to play next year,” he said.
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