Acosta (1st) on a possible first Grand Prix victory: “I’m not feeling any pressure!”

KTM rider Pedro Acosta got off to a perfect start to the race weekend at the Red Bull Ring on Friday. He was the fastest in the first free practice session, ahead of Pol Espargaro. The session took place in the morning in cool conditions of 13 degrees Celsius, which is why all the riders held back a little and the lap times were relatively slow. On Friday afternoon, however, with temperatures at 20 degrees and significantly better conditions, Acosta once again set the pace. He clocked the fastest time on his RC16, beating Marc Marquez (Ducati) – who finished fourth – by two tenths.

“I’m satisfied. It was also a good start to the home Grand Prix for KTM. It was similar to how we started in Aragon. I’m happy,” said Acosta, delighted with the successful start in Spielberg. “We’re still having problems, though, in the long Turn 5 and in the left-hand turns 6 and 7. I’m trying to improve there, because Brad was very impressive in those sections.” Team-mate Brad Binder also put in a strong performance, finishing seventh. For the first time in a long while, he managed to qualify directly for Q2 on a Friday.

Which rear tyre did he feel more comfortable with – the soft tyre or the medium? “I felt good on both tyres – I can’t complain,” said the 22-year-old succinctly.

Pedro Acosta: “Take it easy!”

With such a strong Friday – is Pedro Acosta’s first GP win finally on the cards this weekend? “It’s only Friday,” he waved off the suggestion. “I don’t know. We’ll have to see how Ducati and Aprilia improve on Saturday. Aldeguer and Ogura were very quick. Last year, Bezzecchi was very fast and Aldeguer had a very good pace in the main race. I’m not feeling any pressure; I just want to see how it goes. It was good, but we’re still not where we should be. Take it easy!”

How much further can Acosta improve this weekend? “Hopefully a lot,” he replied. “But you never know. Things are going well and I’m happy that both factory KTMs are in Q2 – I can gather a lot of information from that. Brad was 0.2 seconds behind me, which is great. He was faster than me in the third sector, and that’s exactly where I’m struggling.»

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19.09.2026 - 08:35