The road to Pedro Acosta's maiden MotoGP win

Pedro Acosta’s maiden MotoGP win at KTM’s home circuit, the Red Bull Ring, capped three years of repeated near-misses and a steady buildup of form. He debuted in MotoGP in 2024 with KTM satellite team Tech3, taking five podiums but no wins. After moving to the factory KTM team for 2025, his pattern continued with another five podiums. In 2026, he entered the season with five more podiums from the first 14 rounds, totaling 15: eight second places and seven thirds—the most MotoGP podiums without a win until Sunday. Acosta’s victory also marked KTM’s first premier-class win since the 2022 Thai Grand Prix. He will join Ducati next season, alongside Marc Marquez, and the race came as a key goal before leaving KTM.