Spielberg winner Acosta was scared: “I nearly wet my trousers!”

Pedro Acosta achieved his big goal on Sunday in Spielberg. In his third year in the premier class, he secured his first MotoGP victory. The former Moto3 and Moto2 world champion had been on the podium many times before, but had never quite managed to take the top spot – until 20 September 2026.

His last Grand Prix victory – in the Moto2 World Championship – was almost three years ago. “I remembered my last GP victory in Indonesia in 2023, and also the moment when Tech3 told me they were taking me into their MotoGP team. I can only say thank you to KTM,” said Acosta. “Thanks also to the lads at Tech3; they helped repair my bike after the crash I had this morning. Without them, we wouldn’t have had two bikes ready for the race. A big thank you to the Tech3 lads.”

Willkommen zum Rennen am Red Bull Ring

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Marco Bezzecchi

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Pedro Acosta

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Fans

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Pecco Bagnaia und Marc Márquez

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Jorge Martin

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Brad Binder

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Marc Márquez

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Marco Bezzecchi

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Ai Ogura

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Fermin Aldeguer

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Marco Bezzecchi und Marc Márquez

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Pedro Acosta

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Johann Zarco

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Jorge Martin

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Enea Bastianini

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Pedro Acosta gewinnt das Rennen

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Pedro Acosta und Team

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Martin, Acosta, Bezzecchi

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Sieger Pedro Acosta

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Sieger Pedro Acosta

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Willkommen zum Rennen am Red Bull Ring

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Acosta wanted to learn from his mistake

In Saturday’s sprint race, Acosta crashed whilst leading. The Spaniard also sent his RC16 into the gravel trap on the final lap of Sunday morning’s warm-up. Things went much better in the main race. “I’m very happy with the race. However, I had more problems on the first lap than on Saturday. What’s more, Jorge (Martin) pushed very hard at the start – I struggled to catch him,” explained the 22-year-old. “But then I simply tried to learn from the mistake I’d made the day before. I tried to open up only as big a gap as was necessary. I maintained a gap of 0.5 to 0.7 seconds throughout the race and kept an eye on fuel consumption – this track is very tricky in that respect. I’m happy!”

Acosta secured his first MotoGP victory at the Red Bull Ring in Austria of all places – KTM’s home circuit, where many test kilometres were clocked up on the RC16. When he crossed the finish line and had finally done it – just how emotional was he? “It’s even more emotional to achieve this in the home of KTM and Red Bull. I’m really happy for them and also for myself. They suffered a great deal last year, even just to stay in the championship,” said Acosta, referring to the difficult period KTM went through last year. “The way they’ve managed to recover from their financial difficulties and the way we’ve fought our way back with our bike… I can only say thank you. It’s been a long road to get here – we’re going to enjoy this immensely!”

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Brad Binder gratulierte Teamkollege Pedro Acosta

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Acosta: “There was no other way to celebrate this victory”

After his victory, Acosta deliberately laid his KTM on its side in the chicane where he’d crashed during Saturday’s sprint. “There was no other way to celebrate this victory,” smiled the Spaniard. “Yesterday I completely messed it up. I made a serious mistake today too – I wrecked my race bike. I nearly wet my pants because I didn’t want to make another mistake on KTM’s home turf. We’ve done it!”

Pedro Acosta and KTM will now tackle their final race weekends together – before their journey together comes to an end at the end of 2026. In the overall standings, with seven Grands Prix remaining, he lies in fourth place, 72 points behind. The gap to World Championship leader Jorge Martin (Aprilia) is therefore significant. “I’m still a long way off, but not that far from the top three, which is good. Now we’re off to Asia, but I’d put my money on Marc – he’s won the most titles and has the most experience.” In 2027, Acosta will be fighting on equal terms against the nine-time champion in the Ducati factory team.