ACOSTA LEADS KTM’S CHARGE AS APRILIA SETS THE PACE IN MANDALIKA

Pedro Acosta ended Friday at Mandalika as the quickest rider outside the Aprilia camp, placing fourth in the timed session and also setting the fourth-fastest time in opening practice. The KTM rider said he had already matched his qualifying time from last year on the first day of the weekend. “We’re best of the rest!” he said.

But Acosta stressed that KTM still had a substantial gap to Aprilia. He was nearly seven tenths behind Raul Fernandez, who produced several strong laps late in the timed session. “We’re a long way behind Aprilia. It’s incredible how fast they are here,” Acosta said, adding that the manufacturer was performing as strongly as it had in 2025.

The Spaniard identified the second sector as a key area to address before qualifying: KTM was losing more than four tenths across just three corners there. “We need to find out why we can’t keep up in that section,” he said. He felt the team was more competitive in sectors one, three and four.

Friday’s widespread crashes also prompted Acosta to reflect on the revised weekend format planned for next season. With more sessions packed into less time, he warned, riders could be forced to take greater risks and lose valuable practice time. He said he had been informed of the change but had not been consulted: “There was no discussion.” Acosta himself stayed upright, while KTM teammate Enea Bastianini crashed twice.

The session offered no explanation for Acosta’s seventh place at Motegi after starting third. “We haven’t found answers for what happened in Motegi,” he said, though he welcomed Friday’s result as a reason to be pleased. KTM’s wider picture remained difficult: Acosta was the only rider from the team to reach Q2, with Brad Binder 17th, Maverick Viñales 21st and Bastianini also down in 21st.

Acosta later qualified ninth for the 13-lap sprint, still KTM’s leading rider, after struggling with an unstable bike throughout the weekend. He gained ground when Raul Fernandez and Marco Bezzecchi crashed in the first corner, then joined Ai Ogura and Fabio Di Giannantonio in the fight for third. Acosta blamed no one for the incident, describing it as “a domino effect”: Di Giannantonio ran wide, Marc Marquez moved to avoid contact, Bezzecchi did likewise, and “there was no track left for anyone.”

A long-lap penalty for repeated track-limit violations ended Acosta’s podium hopes. He admitted, “Yes, I touched the green three times,” and said he had been unsettled while trying to match rivals’ pace in sector two. He finished sixth, 5.5 seconds behind winner Marc Marquez, and was the only KTM rider in the top nine. “The top five was the maximum we could get today,” he said.

Acosta rejected the idea that KTM had gone backwards: “We’re not far away, we’re faster than last year. We haven’t got worse; on the contrary, our competitors have improved more.” He also ruled out using the soft rear tyre on Sunday. He retained fourth in the championship with 247 points, but Ogura cut the gap to one.