Acosta may not win a MotoGP race on a KTM - and that’s not a failure

As Pedro Acosta’s three-year stint with KTM in MotoGP draws to a close, he is still searching for that elusive grand prix victory. Since he burst onto the scene as a 19-year-old in 2024, Acosta has completed 54 race weekends astride the RC16, achieving 14 top-three finishes, including eight as a runner-up, meaning he now holds an unwanted record of the most podiums without a win.

No matter how well Acosta does, his critics always point to a lack of a race win to bring him down and discredit his achievements. Especially since he moved up to the factory KTM team in 2025, pressure has been mounting on him to return the Austrian manufacturer to the top step.

So why is a race victory seen as being so significant in Acosta’s case? The answer probably lies in the fact that he was hailed as a generational talent - the next Marc Marquez - long before he moved into the premier class. Glowing articles were being written about him while he was still in Moto3 and having yet to get a taste of even the intermediate class. Certainly, the expectation was that he would take the field by storm and achieve the unthinkable, no matter what kind of machinery he had at his disposal.

A MotoGP win would be a reward for KTM, the manufacturer that had backed him since his early days in motorcycle racing and helped him land a Moto3 seat when his original deal with Prustel GP fell through. The man Acosta shares the garage with, Brad Binder, scored two wins with KTM in the early 2020s, so it seemed only logical that Acosta would follow in his footsteps.

So why has Acosta not scored a MotoGP win yet, and does it matter?

Back in his rookie year, Acosta admittedly crashed far too many times and gave away a potential big result after qualifying his bike on pole position at Motegi. But even his harshest critics would admit that he has matured leaps and bounds since the start of last year, and is now among the best-performing riders on the entire grid.

Maybe as recently as five years ago, Acosta could have come through and scored that maiden win. But the reality is that the dynamics of MotoGP have changed, and Aprilia and Ducati’s duopoly doesn’t really leave room for a third manufacturer on the top step of the podium.

Since 2023, there have been very few opportunities for riders outside those two manufacturers to win in MotoGP, with Honda’s Alex Rins' triumph in Austin in 2024 and Johann Zarco’s home victory at Le Mans in 2025 being the only exceptions. Considering last year’s French GP took place in treacherous conditions, there has only been one instance of a non-Ducati/Aprilia rider winning a dry-weather race in four seasons.

Pedro Acosta and Marc Marquez have the potential to form one of the fiercest rivalries on the grid

Photo by: Burak Akbulut / Anadolu via Getty Images

But the truth is that Acosta has also come close on multiple occasions, only for things to fall by the wayside due to factors out of his control. This year’s Catalan GP was the finest example, as a sudden electrical problem left him with no power on Barcelona’s long back straight while he was being chased by Alex Marquez.
 
Take last weekend’s Aragon GP, too. On any other track, such a performance would have put him firmly in contention for a victory. But he was up against Marc Marquez at one of the latter’s most successful circuits. 

It was no surprise that KTM’s test rider Pol Espargaro, taking part in the weekend as a stand-in for Maverick Vinales, was singing praises for the 22-year-old.

“To see Pedro's race today is unbelievable, it's super,” he said. “It's like a big bag of oxygen for everyone inside the factory, and this is going to help us to keep pushing for Pedro because he deserves the best material and bike for the next races. I have no words for what he did in Silverstone, but today and yesterday, he was going insane.

“This shows that Pedro is on top of the bike. He's doing much more than what the bike can do.”

This year alone, Acosta had had to deal with reliability issues and an engine that was turned down due to those very problems. Factor in KTM’s financial issues at the beginning of 2025 and his own learning curve, and a lack of race wins seems less like an excuse and more like a credible explanation.

With nine rounds to run in 2026 - eight if Qatar is cancelled and not replaced - there will still be opportunity for Acosta to ascend to the top. With Ducati and Aprilia riders engaging in a close scrap for the title, he might just be able to capitalise on an opportunity and add a grand prix win to his sprint success in Thailand. 

Would it be a shame if Acosta’s time at KTM comes to an end without a race win? Of course, both Acosta and KTM would genuinely be disappointed to some degree. But equally, it would be wrong to judge their partnership by just one metric. Acosta has been so far ahead of his KTM stablemates that he has scored more points than Binder, Enea Bastianini and Maverick Vinales combined this year. He is the reason KTM sits fourth in the teams’ standings, ahead of VR46 and Gresini.

What ultimately will matter is how Acosta performs when he moves to Ducati next year, especially if the Borgo Panigale marque remains a frontrunner under the new regulations. Given how hard Acosta has been pushing Marquez since 2024, his arrival at Ducati could put the nine-time world champion under serious pressure.

Acosta’s career will ultimately be judged by how many titles he wins, the quality of competition he faces, and how he carries himself off the track. His first three years in MotoGP could well end up being little more than a footnote in what is set to be an illustrious career.