Pedro Acosta: the promise to Dani Pedrosa for his first win

Another podium for Acosta in Portimão, where in the finale he even came close to snatching second place from Alex Márquez: now eyes on Valencia.

His first MotoGP victory continues to elude him, but Pedro Acosta put together a solid weekend in Portugal: second in the sprint race and third in the main race. The results allowed him to close to within 3 points of Pecco Bagnaia in the overall standings; in Valencia he can think about overtaking and finishing 2025 in fourth place overall. Not bad, even though his goal remains to fight for the world title.

Interviewed by DAZN, the two-time world champion confirmed he is dealing with the usual traction issues on the KTM RC16, but in the final part of the race he still managed to claw back a lot of time on Alex Márquez and finished less than a second behind at the line: "Mid-race I held back a little, not so much to save the tires, but to manage the gap, especially to the group behind. Something clicked and I started pushing hard again."

Even though he couldn’t get past Márquez or fight for the win, Acosta sees a KTM environment that is working extremely hard to make strides and reach a higher level of competitiveness: "KTM, the factory, the team and the test riders are giving their all to see if we can improve the bike, but it will take time. We’re moving forward step by step. Right now, we’re getting more podiums. I think I made a big mistake at the beginning of the year by setting my expectations too high."

Although he’d like that first MotoGP win to come as soon as possible, the Spanish rider isn’t obsessed and remains confident about the future: "We’re putting together good races; this is the first time I’ve had four consecutive podiums. This will prepare us for the day the opportunity presents itself. It will come."

Acosta also joked with Dani Pedrosa about dyeing his hair orange if he wins next race weekend, the last of the 2025 calendar: "I think I’ll dye my hair too if I win in Valencia. We’ll see how that weekend goes, but little by little we’re getting closer. I hope so." We’ll see if Pedro ends up having to color his hair.