Pedro Acosta is KTM’s great hope for the future in MotoGP. The rider has already been announced for the Red Bull KTM team for the upcoming season, with a shared goal with the Austrian manufacturer – becoming a champion in the premier class.
The RC16 is currently a bike that allows him to fight for podiums but is not yet at the level of Ducati. And that’s where KTM aims to be, with its director Hubert Trunkenpolz admitting to GPOne.com that Acosta needs this to become a champion:
– Regardless of the question about top riders, we still have tasks to do as a factory. Pedro Acosta needs a bike that performs at the level of Ducati if he wants to fight for the world title. With his exceptional talent, he will be able to correct some defects of the bike, but not everything.
KTM Motorsport Director Pit Beirer also acknowledged that KTM is still behind Ducati in the competitive hierarchy: ‘The result in the constructors’ championship is a very honest assessment of our position, as Ducati has a 101-point advantage over us after the first seven Grands Prix. Ducati is first, we are second, Aprilia is third, ahead of the two Japanese manufacturers’.