ACOSTA’S DATA ENGINEER SAYS COMPARISONS TO MARQUEZ MAKE HIM LAUGH

KTM’s Pedro Acosta’s move to Ducati next season is already being framed as one of MotoGP’s most intense teammate match-ups, with Marc Marquez joining him in the factory setup. But ahead of that pairing, Acosta’s own data engineer, Adri Castilla, has revealed that he and the team can’t help but find the comparisons between the two riders amusing—particularly when it comes to how they ride.

Speaking on MotoGP journalist Nico Abad’s YouTube channel, Castilla discussed his role in analysing data for Acosta and how the team interprets what riders do on track. When asked whether Acosta has taken inspiration from other riders since stepping up from Moto2 to MotoGP for the 2024 campaign—specifically Brad Binder or Maverick Vinales—Castilla said the key point is that Acosta’s approach is still distinctly his own. “I reckon that it’s more or less the case that Pedro’s got his own style,” Castilla replied.

Castilla explained that these conclusions are reached not only through raw data, but also through other tools that help the team understand rider actions and differences. He said that he and Acosta’s rider coach, Carmelo Morales, regularly compare how other riders move and what those movements mean in performance terms. “We’ve talked about this a lot with Carmelo [Morales] when we compare how the others ride. Not just in terms of data but using other tools that let us see what one does and what the other does,” Castilla said.

According to Castilla, the reason the Marquez comparisons keep coming is that, while Acosta’s style is different from everyone else’s, the closest “mirror” in the field is Marquez. Castilla described it as a recurring moment of recognition during their analysis. “You can see that Pedro’s style is different from everyone else’s, and it’s funny because the other person who’s a bit like Pedro—or vice versa—is Marc,” he said. He added that when Acosta does something in a particular way, Morales and Castilla often end up laughing because Marquez appears to do something similar. “When we see Pedro doing something different, Carmelo and I always have a laugh about it,” Castilla said.

Castilla illustrated the point with a specific example of how their lines through corners can look alike from the outside. “See, Pedro? This turn—you go inwards, you go outwards, whatever. And then you see what Marc does, and it’s a bit like what Pedro does, or he does a bit like what Marc does,” he explained. “So, I think that in terms of this style they both have talent that is a bit similar.”

The teammate dynamic is expected to be shaped not just by rider ambition, but also by Ducati’s ability to deliver a competitive 2027-spec machine under MotoGP’s new technical regulations. The sources note that Ducati are already anticipating “friction” between Acosta and Marquez, and that there is no guarantee Acosta will immediately be winning races in his first year with the factory.

That uncertainty has only increased the attention on how Acosta prepares for the challenge of facing Marquez. During the Italian Grand Prix at the end of May, Acosta revealed that he intentionally stayed behind Marquez to learn more about the reigning world champion’s riding style—whether to look for weaknesses or to better understand Ducati’s characteristics. The move further underlines the storyline of an explosive partnership that Ducati’s Luigi Dall’Igna is expecting to deliver major impact once the two riders are on the same team.