MotoGP | Exclusive interview with Acosta: “We expected more, we had too much confidence”

One of the standout riders of the last few races has been Pedro Acosta, who scored 91 points across the six GPs between Austria and Indonesia, climbing up the standings with 5th in the Championship. We sat down with him to talk about this season and what allowed him to make a switch in the second half of the year.

Pedro's recap of his season

Pedro, we’re in the final part of this season: how do you evaluate your first season in the factory team?
Surely we all expected more from this year, ‘cause it hasn’t really been possible to fight. The start of the season was really difficult, it’s true that after the summer break we started doing better and having good races, but I think we all expected more because we had too much confidence in this year. Still, the move to the factory team has been a nice improvement.

Does this second part of the season give you confidence, considering the growth path you and the team have taken? Compared to the beginning of the season, you, and not only you, have managed to fight at the front more consistently, bringing home some podiums.
The situation has improved, but we’re still missing something compared to what I wanted to do. As you said, we’ve grown a lot, we’re more or less always in the top-5, but it is also true that I’d love to do more and better. However, we’re working towards that, and if we look at the period from the summer break, we should still be happy because we’ve always been competitive in all the races we’ve done.

What has changed since the summer break? Has the progress we’ve seen been purely technical or have you also gained more confidence in you own skills?
I think it’s been a mix of factors. It’s true that the introduction of the new fairing after the summer break helped a lot, but also not having the arm pump problem I suffered at the start of the year [has been helpful]. My mindset ha salso changed: I’m more positive and always try to give it a go, ‘cause at the start of the season it was tough mentally. We had a clear target which wasn’t to win the Championship but to fight for some victories and do our best. We started the season struggling, but then there was growth in all areas. Experience has also made things easier, and I feel we took a step forward after the summer.

His teammates and his relationship with KTM

In KTM all your teammates have more experience than you in MotoGP: what are you learning from each and every one of them?
When I see someone riding faster than me, I try to study him and look at every detail. I think the person who helped me make a step forward has been Maverick, because in the past I didn’t have teammates faster than me and it’s not easy to accept that someone can be quicker with the same bike. I think he helped me mentally, making me say to myself that no one can be faster than me on my bike.

How would you describe your relationship with the team and how are they helping you grow in MotoGP?
I get along wery well with the team, in the end they are the ones managing the most difficult part of me. They’re doing an incredible job, and they also helped me understand that when we lost the chance to fight for something important, the Championship was still ongoing and there were still races to run. Before the summer break we set ourselves a “virtual championship” among us, telling ourselves to do three races at 100% and then see what would happen. As a rider, I think we’re doing much better than last year, but mentally we’re in a much stronger place compared to the start of the year.

His thought about MotoGP

What’s the thing that impressed you the most about MotoGP and what’s the thing that challenged you the most?
The best thing is the feeling of riding a MotoGP. There’s not just one thing in particular – it’s the whole package: the technical side, the feeling of riding a race bike. I think the hardest part of being a MotoGP rider today is being extremely precise with the electronics. It’s the most complex aspect, but also the one that allows you to make the biggest step.

Can you give me your opinion on the 2027 regulations with less aerodynamic, the removal of ride-height devices and a smaller engines? 
I think it will help everyone see more clearly the rider’s potential. Right now it feels a bit like Formula 1, small details make more difference than the rider. I think this can help. Racing with a smaller engine, I don’t know, because if we remove the devices and aerodynamics, we’re already slower. If they decided this way, I expect it’s to make the Championship better.

Who is Pedro: expectations and character

Your impact in the World Championship has been massive: you’ve won Moto3 in your first season, you’ve won Moto2 in your second season in that championship. How are you dealing with the expectations around you?
Since I started racing, I've always had expectation on myself. I know what potential I can show, I know what I can do on the bike and I know why I can’t do it sometimes. It’s a matter of time: we need to improve the KTM, I need to improve some details in my riding, and we’ll try to do better. It’s not that far off. For 2026, we’ll have to see how the bike is and how the tests go, and only then we can think about it. Even this year I thought so, but from the first race we struggled. We’ll see what happens, I don’t set any expectation.

Who is Pedro Acosta outside the paddock? What are the things you like doing the most outside the track on your freetime?
I like training, riding. In the end, when a weekend hasn’t gone badly, I take the enduro bike and go for a ride. I’ve been doing this for 5 years, not much has changed. I’ve never really done anything else in life but ride. I like it, I consider myself a bit of a hippie, I don’t like social media. I like riding.

Mattia Fundarò