Red Bull KTM Factory Racing will bring MotoGP starlet and two-time World Champion Pedro Acosta back into orange for 2025. A new multi-year deal with the 20-year-old Grand Prix sensation sees #31 equipped with a KTM RC16 for his fifth season at the highest level and second in MotoGP.
The Spaniard has been an outstanding sight in 2024 and his first attempt at the premier class. Acosta has already totalled two podium finishes to-date – one of the youngest riders in the sport to stand on the rostrum as well as the youngest to grab back-to-back silverware – and is roaming the fringes of the top five in the world championship standings.
Acosta’s climb in Grand Prix has been rapid and emphatic. He won the 2020 Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup in his second season as part of the proven feeder series. Pedro, signed to Aki Ajo’s Red Bull KTM Ajo team, then grabbed a podium result on his Moto3™ debut in Qatar 2021 and clinched his maiden victory at the same venue the following weekend. Acosta’s one term in the category ended with world championship success and he vaulted immediately into Moto2™ for 2022; a class he also ruled by the end of 2023.
Pedro’s character, natural ability and mature attitude means he has been an instant MotoGP hit, and the pace and results have flowed in his first campaign with RC16 technology. The new contract draws the popular racer into the Red Bull KTM structure once more and for a term that will stretch beyond 2025.
Pedro, before we get to MotoGP and the future, tell us a bit about the past and when did the story really begin with KTM?
It was a dream in 2020 when I signed my first contract with KTM to go to Moto3. It wasn’t the easiest time for me and they saved my career, let’s say, and it was so great to make that step to the factory team and come all this way together. I remember in 2019 and the selection event for Rookies; it felt like a last chance for me, and KTM and Red Bull gave me an opportunity. It is one of the best memories I have.
Can you try to explain the emotions of a first MotoGP season where you have left all expectations behind?
It was easy to feel the expectations; from the media, the sponsors, everyone involved…but then the people around me kept saying it was a season of no pressure. Still, it has not been easy to go into a first MotoGP season with the results that we’ve had until now. We are on our way.
In 2025 you will be back in orange. What do you like about the brand, how does it give you energy and why decide your future lies with KTM in MotoGP?
It was important to me to keep pushing with KTM, and to see the whole project and the story until now and how we have grown in racing. So, it’s nice to carry on for the future: getting in orange is like coming back home. The way they are pushing and improving in the last couple of years is what is also pushing me to stay for the next couple of years.
Francesco Guidotti, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Team Manager: “In racing you can never stand still or slow down and Pedro’s story is a rare one. We can almost call him a generational talent because of what he has achieved so far. It’s clear he is one of the hottest names in MotoGP now and for 2025 it will be interesting to see and work with him in a closer way. The standard is super-high in this sport now for many things: the bikes, the tires, the equipment and the teams. So, to standout so quickly means something quite special. I think we also have to give credit to his current team in the pitbox next door for giving Pedro the platform to show what he can do.”
Pit Beirer, KTM Motorsports Director: “It gives us great pleasure to announce this news. We are as excited as everyone else when Pedro shows his speed and personality on the track, and it looks like this boy is winning a lot of new fans all around the globe. From the first days in the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup we could see he was a special rider. Somebody that does things differently, and with the strongest mentality to make his own way. It makes him unique in this MotoGP world. It gives us a lot of energy and power to make this journey with him through our teams and our motorcycles. I also want to give a mention to our KTM GP Academy and the work of people like Aki Ajo with Pedro. It is super-cool that we will be together for a few more years. He has a very big future in MotoGP and we really look forward to the next chapter of his career with us.”
KTM Factory Racing
