DOVIZIOSO AND TARDOZZI SAY ACOSTA’S 2027 DUCATI MOVE WILL REVEAL THE “REAL” RIDER

Andrea Dovizioso believes Pedro Acosta’s switch to Ducati in 2027 will do more than change his bike and team—it will help show “the real Acosta.” The former Ducati rider, speaking on his YouTube channel, argued that while the KTM star has already produced “extraordinary things,” there is still “a lot to discover” about him because his MotoGP experience has so far been tied almost entirely to the KTM RC16.

Acosta was given his MotoGP debut by KTM’s satellite team Tech3 in 2024, and he needed just one season to earn a factory opportunity, taking the seat that had been held by Jack Miller. Since then, Dovizioso pointed to how Acosta has stood out within KTM: after becoming teammates with Brad Binder in 2025, Acosta has been “in a different league from the rest of the KTM riders.” The contrast in results was stark—Binder finished 11th in 2025 with 155 points, while Acosta was fourth with 307. Dovizioso also noted Acosta’s continued pace in 2026, where he is sixth with 189 points so far, compared with Tech3’s Enea Bastianini in 12th with 84 points.

Even with Acosta’s dominance over other KTM riders, Dovizioso said the Spaniard’s dominance over his teammates is something he finds “sad.” He also suggested that Acosta’s KTM environment has not yet pushed the rest of the Austrian marque’s lineup to the same level, adding that he wants Binder and Bastianini to improve before they leave KTM at the end of 2026.

Acosta himself has already confirmed the direction of his career beyond KTM, quitting the Austrian team after signing a two-year Ducati deal. From 2027, he will partner Marc Marquez, joining the Ducati setup that will be a new chapter after his time with KTM and its Ajo roots.

Dovizioso’s central point is that Acosta’s move will reveal more about his character and development because it will be his first experience riding for a different team on a different machine in MotoGP. “We don’t know much about him because he’s young and he’s changing teams,” Dovizioso said. “It’s the first time he’ll be riding a different bike, for a different team [and] as Marc’s teammate. It’ll be an interesting situation, and we’ll start to discover the real Acosta.”

Looking at Acosta’s early MotoGP record, Dovizioso highlighted that the podium arrived quickly—there was a MotoGP podium in only his second race at Portugal in 2024—but he is still yet to win a premier-class Grand Prix. His best results to date include eight second places, with his most recent P2 coming at the 2026 Aragon Grand Prix. At MotorLand Aragon, Dovizioso said Acosta “made the difference” under braking, repeatedly closing on Marquez into the corners, but then being limited by the KTM RC16’s straight-line speed in 2026 compared to the Ducati GP26.

Newly, Ducati’s own leadership has been publicly upbeat about what Acosta can bring. Ahead of the 2027 pairing, Ducati team manager Davide Tardozzi told AS that Acosta “isn’t a gamble, he’s a sure thing,” adding that he has “once again shown” a “very bright future.” Acosta, still at KTM at the time, was reportedly “blown away” by those comments at Aragon, with journalist Mela Chercoles saying she sent Tardozzi’s quotes to him on WhatsApp and that Acosta was surprised Tardozzi said it “while he’s still at KTM.”

With Acosta set to leave KTM after the 2026 season and join Ducati alongside Marquez, Dovizioso expects the 2027 campaign to be the moment when the full picture of Acosta becomes clearer—not just through results, but through how he adapts when the bike, team, and teammate dynamic all change at once.