Pedro Acosta has identified a still-remaining tyre problem for KTM’s MotoGP bike.
The Austrian brand has notoriously struggled with rear tyre vibration since Michelin introduced its new, higher grip yet longer duration rear tyre construction in 2024, and 2025 saw the Austrian manufacturer suffer substantially with rear tyre life.
The first race of the 2026 MotoGP season saw at least one of those issues seemingly resolved, as Pedro Acosta finished second after overhauling Trackhouse Aprilia’s Raul Fernandez late on in the race.
“Last year the problem was everywhere, was not only at the end of the races,” Acosta told the post-race press conference. [...] Looks like we improved the life of the tyre; let’s see in other tracks, in Europe and in Brazil, but it looks like we are managing better.”
But Acosta got to second after starting sixth, a qualifying result he feels is the result of KTM’s remaining tyre issue, which has arguably been a factor for the RC16 from the beginning of the project, not just since the 2024 tyre construction update. In particular, Acosta is looking for KTM to improve the RC16’s ability to extract performance from a fresh rear tyre.
“We know that even myself I’m struggling to make a fast lap,” Acsota said.
“Also in the first laps of the race I’m not super-fast, let’s say, or I’m not in a ‘time attack mode’.”
He added: “It’s true that we have to anyway keep working in all the areas because you can see that Aprilia and Ducati is still super-fast in time attacks.
“This will make our life quite more easy.
“It’s true that we are not so bad like last year in time attacks also, but still a way to go.”
“Super-great” battles
Acosta took his first Sprint win in MotoGP on Saturday in Thailand, following a tough battle with Marc Marquez, which admittedly ended with some degree of controversy thanks to Marquez’s penalty.
A day later, Acosta battled again with Marquez early on, and then with Jorge Martin.
Afterwards, Acosta – who ultimately won out in both battles – expressed his pleasure at being able to fight so strongly.
“Super-great battle with Marc [Marquez] yesterday and super-great battle today with Jorge [Martin],” Acosta said.
“I really enjoy these kind of races, even if we were losing time but I was enjoying a lot. Again, super-clean battles with Jorge.
“It’s true that then I was taking a bit more pace, I was catching a bit Raul [Fernandez], and at one moment I said ‘Okay, let’s try to manage a bit more the fuel and these things, and then try to make this extra push’.
“At one moment I said ‘Okay, seven laps to go, it’s now or never’.
“We are working quite okay in the box, maintaining the calm, this is making things much easier.”
Acosta’s Thailand results mean he is leading the championship by seven points over Sunday winner Marco Bezzecchi, who is two points ahead of Raul Fernandez after the Trackhouse rider took two third places at the season opener.
