Bitter Brno Sprint for Pedro Acosta: KTM reliability concerns grow

Pedro Acosta crashes in the MotoGP Sprint at Brno due to a technical problem. A new warning sign about the reliability of the KTM RC16.

Yet another issue with the much-discussed ride-height devices. Pedro Acosta ended his MotoGP Sprint at Brno early for exactly that reason: the holeshot device got stuck in the lowered position. A problem that, over the years, has proven more frequent than expected. We’ve reported countless cases, some even leading to race retirements. But at KTM it’s a bigger concern: yesterday, the Spaniard’s RC16 suddenly shut off again, just as it did during the horrific Catalan GP. That issue (which happened again), Binder’s recent clutch failure, last year’s “flying chains”—in short, there are a few too many reliability problems…

There aren’t many ways to sugarcoat the cause of the crash. “We had a technical problem with the device: it kept getting stuck and I had to try to unlock it somehow. Between one thing and another, while trying to unlock it again, the front tucked and I went down.” That’s how Pedro Acosta analyzed the issue that knocked him out early in Saturday’s mini-race in the Czech Republic. “It was a bit of a silly crash,” he added, as reported by Motosan. As mentioned, though, this is hardly the first case in modern MotoGP since the introduction of ride-height devices. A hot topic for swift abolition, before 2027… But back to Acosta: the problem started immediately, on lap one. “I was already scraping the fairings. There were some straights where I managed to unlock it, like the start-finish straight, but then it would lock again and the situation kept getting more and more complicated.”

Traction and grip are the biggest shortcomings Pedro Acosta points out on the RC16, but today it was something else entirely. As noted, it wasn’t the first issue of the weekend. Is there concern? “These are things that don’t depend on me,” the KTM Spaniard replied. “We need to analyze the data, understand why they happen, and fix them. In the end, this is motorsport, and these things can happen, but if we want to fight for something, even if we’re well behind, these things shouldn’t happen.” There always seems to be a new problem popping up! “When it’s not one thing, it’s another. And when I don’t crash… But in the end, the conclusion is that I crashed. We have to keep moving forward,” Acosta downplayed, choosing to see the glass half full. “I’m always at the front or at least in the positions I set for myself at the start of the year. Sure, I’d like to do better, but for now this is the most we can aim for if we want to score a lot of points from here to the end of the season,” he concluded.

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