Why Acosta Could Finally Claim His First MotoGP Victory in Valencia

Pedro AcostaHis top performance during Friday practice at the Valencia Grand Prix has once more sparked optimism that the KTM star might fin...

Pedro AcostaHis top performance during Friday practice at the Valencia Grand Prix has once more sparked optimism that the KTM star might finally achieve his first MotoGP victory.

The Spanish rider has been answering questions about that difficult first win throughout his second season, and the inquiries became more intense when the Gresini rookie arrived.Fermin Aldeguersecured a remarkable win in Indonesia, while Trackhouse's Raul Fernandez reached the highest position on the podium a few weeks later in Australia.

However, although Acosta has encountered growing external pressure to meet those high standards, he has been steadily gaining traction on his own, and a first victory seems more attainable than ever.

Over the past five weekends, he has consistently stood on the podium, either in the sprint race or the grand prix, demonstrating impressive reliability on a motorcycle that has shown significant variations in performance across different tracks.

During the flyaway rounds, Acosta made it clear that the last two European races were KTM's best opportunities to reach the top step. In Portimao, he led most of the sprint before being overtaken byAlex Marquez, while the third was the highest achievable in Sunday's race.

Valencia now presents him with the last chance to rid himself of the burden, and Acosta appears determined to take that opportunity. An early fast lap during the one-hour Practice placed him at the top of the time charts, half a tenth ahead of Aprilia’s.Marco Bezzecchi. 

Given that Acosta had only one prior day of MotoGP testing at Valencia — his initial official test at the conclusion of 2023 — it was a remarkable beginning to the weekend.

However, the Spanish rider still does not consider himself the favorite to win this weekend, pointing out how tightly packed the competitors were on Friday.

The issue here is that everything is extremely close - it's absurd," he said. "I believe one second [covers] 19 riders. With one replacement rider and one rider who missed many races like [Jorge] Martin, it's absurd that we're within one second. You can imagine how high the level of MotoGP is right now.

It is true that we faced many challenges in completing the time trials with the soft front, and it may have been unforeseen.

Nevertheless, we need to stay positive. We've been focusing extensively on race strategy and tire performance. However, there's still a significant amount of work ahead since many factors are currently unpredictable.

Although recognizing that KTM has certain problems to address overnight, Acosta is also aware that Circuit Ricardo Tormo is more appropriate for the RC16 than most of the tracks that concluded the away races.

The reality that even a teammateBrad Bindermanaged to complete the day half a second behind the top time - even though they had difficulties with one-lap performance throughout the season - indicating that the KTM is performing well at the Cheste circuit.

Here we have arrived at a track that suits us better, perhaps," he explained. "If you look at the last few tracks, we had this Turn 2 in Indonesia that is very fast and our bike isn't handling well. Then we went to Phillip Island where we wore out the tires, and these long corners aren't our strongest points.

In Malaysia, there are two long straights with extended acceleration, causing the tires to burn. Then we arrived in Portugal, and it seemed our bike wasn't as fast as the Ducati or Aprilia in the final corner.

Here, it seems we need to brake more frequently and then speed up again. It's a different approach to riding the bike. It appears our [bike] is improving because I don't lose the back wheel as often, and everything is simpler to grasp. I have a general idea of where the tires are and how to attempt to control [them].

Tire degradation will certainly impact the result on Sunday, but the Malaysian event demonstrated that KTM is capable of managing it when necessary.

However, a first MotoGP victory relies more on his opponents than on Acosta. Although it's reasonable to expect him to compete at the front, uncertainties persist regarding how competitive his main rivals, Alex Marquez and Marco Bezzecchi, will be this weekend.

Marquez, the younger rider, spent a significant portion of Friday's practice testing a new 2025-spec aerodynamic package, and might carry out further tests with it this weekend. Bezzecchi, therefore, appears to be a more immediate challenge. Although Aprilia has historically had difficulties at Portimao, its more adaptable 2025 RS-GP indicates he could be a real competitor this season.

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