Acosta flies in Austria but stays grounded: Marquez turns up the pressure

KTM dreams of returning to victory in MotoGP with its phenomenon, who however doesn’t want to get carried away: meanwhile, his future teammate puts him back in the fight for the title.

Pedro Acosta finished first in both practice sessions held today at the Red Bull Ring. Fast on a single lap and strong on race pace too, it’s natural to think that the two-time world champion could have a chance to win his first full-length MotoGP race. He has already won a Sprint in Buriram this year, but after a penalty to Marc Marquez, so he wouldn’t mind at all winning one without any penalties involved.

KTM’s home grand prix seems like the ideal opportunity to live a dream weekend. Aware of his potential, El Tiburon also knows it’s not the time to get overly excited. The competition will work hard to improve, and his own garage will also need to do what’s necessary to put him in an even more competitive position.

The Red Bull KTM Factory Racing rider is overall satisfied with his performances in Spielberg, but he doesn’t fail to point out there’s one sector where he needs to improve: “Surely this is the grand prix we’ve started in the best way,” he told Motosan, “showing good pace with the medium and good potential with the soft. I set my fast lap with the used soft after the red flag due to Alex Marquez’s crash. I’m happy. We’re suffering quite a bit in the third sector; coming out of Turn 4 I can’t get traction down, and that whole uphill section with the two left-handers is giving me some trouble. So we’ll try to push in that area.”

Winning his first MotoGP race at KTM’s home grand prix would be like closing the circle, especially considering he’ll be in the Ducati garage in 2027. However, Acosta doesn’t want to put too much pressure on himself and doesn’t underestimate his rivals: “Nothing is decided. In the end, there’s an Ogura who came in and took third. I think there are three Ducatis very close, and I think all of Q2 is within three tenths, right? We need to see how the others do and how we do tomorrow.”

Even if it’s normal to consider him the weekend favorite, it’s too early to hand down definitive verdicts. Ducati and Aprilia will work hard to try to spoil the dreams of glory for Pedro and his team.

Marc Marquez ended practice fourth and, obviously, he’s someone who must always be considered for the weekend. After pre-qualifying he still admitted he regards Acosta as the rider to beat at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg: “At the moment he’s the favorite,” reports Motosan, “because today he was clearly the fastest. Also, in the past we’ve seen that KTMs have won races here and been quick.”

The reigning MotoGP champion also believes his future teammate shouldn’t be ruled out of the title fight, even though a 65-point gap from the top is not small: “I think Pedro is around sixty points behind,” Marquez commented, “so he’s still in the championship hunt. There are eight races left, and between first and seventh there are fewer than 80 points.” The title race is open, but perhaps for Acosta, Austria could become something of a last chance to truly get back into contention.

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