Pedro Acosta is the great hope of KTM for the future in MotoGP. The rider has already been announced at Red Bull KTM for the next season, and has a common goal with the Austrian manufacturer – to become champion in the premier class.
The RC16 is a bike that currently allows him to fight for podiums, but it is still not at the level of Ducati. And that is where KTM wants to go, with its director Hubert Trunkenpolz admitting to the GPOne.com website that Acosta needs it to be champion:
– Regardless of the question about top riders, we still have tasks to do as a factory. Pedro Acosta needs a bike that works 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 flaws of the bike, but not everything.
The director of KTM Motorsport, 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, since Ducati has a 101-point advantage over us after the first seven Grand Prix. Ducati is first, we are second, Aprilia is third, ahead of the two Japanese manufacturers‘.
