Pedro Acosta? KTM’s unforgivable mistake was letting Jeffrey Herlings go

Comparing two different motorcycle specialties is always difficult; it almost feels inappropriate. However, within KTM’s purely sporting portfolio, it can be done.

The story of Pedro Acosta with the Mattighofen manufacturer will end at the close of the current season, while Jeffrey Herlings’ with the Austrian brand ended last year. He’s already managed to make his former great love miss him dearly.

The specific weight of Pedro Acosta and Jeffrey Herlings within KTM can be compared from certain angles. The former delivered two world titles (Moto3 and Moto2) to the parent company and, for the past two years, in a rather problematic situation, was the last to keep KTM running at the sharp end in MotoGP. Losing him—set to be replaced for 2027 by the duo of Alex Marquez and Fabio Di Giannantonio—costs KTM a lot. A whole lot. With Jeffrey Herlings, given how the story between the parties ended, KTM practically lost face.

At the end of 2024, when things at KTM were going badly (very badly) before the injection of Bajaj funds into their racing programs as well, Jeffrey Herlings let slip statements suggesting that 2025 would be his final year. Because of his physical issues, and because he didn’t see himself with another brand. Then, something happened. KTM made forward-looking investments (see, rightly, the Coenen twins), but that wasn’t all: the working group that had followed “The Bullet” for so many years was coming apart. Mechanics were reassigned to other outfits (like Nestaan Husqvarna), and Herlings himself lost a few familiar touchpoints.

He candidly admitted as much in recent weeks. When he realized that “his” team was crumbling, he began to see a future for himself outside KTM too. He received offers from Honda, Yamaha, and Ducati, choosing the first, which had courted him for many years. He sent back all the contract proposals he’d received up to that point—though not the 2026–2027 two-year deal that’s already in the books. The Flying Dutchman has already won the challenge with Honda HRC and, in a couple of weeks, could celebrate his sixth world title well ahead of time. He’s not ruling out the possibility of renewing with the Golden Wing brand all the way to 2029: for KTM, in every respect, that would be a double slap in the face...