Pedro Acosta (KTM) was over the moon: “The first win is always very special!”

Pedro Acosta experienced a rollercoaster of emotions at his employer KTM’s home Grand Prix. In Saturday’s sprint race, whilst leading, he rode his RC16 into the gravel trap. He missed the braking point before the chicane and crashed.

On Sunday, Acosta started the race from third on the grid again. Immediately after the start, Acosta dropped back to fifth place at Turn 1. On the first lap, he managed to overtake Marc Marquez (Ducati). He then fought his way further up the field lap by lap – on lap 2 he overtook Ai Ogura (Aprilia), and on lap 4 he passed Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia).

On the eighth lap, he pulled up alongside Martin in Turn 4. The two nearly collided. On the ninth lap, the moment finally arrived: Acosta overtook the ‘Martinator’ at the exit of Turn 1. After that, the Spaniard managed to build up a lead of around one second. He powered round after round, whilst KTM bosses Pit Beirer and Gottfried Neumeister watched nervously from the orange team’s pit.

Acosta had everything under control on his RC16. As Martin closed in, he picked up the pace again slightly. It looked all under control.

Then it was done: Pedro Acosta crossed the finish line a second ahead of Jorge Martin and won his first Grand Prix in the premier class. In the KTM pit, Beirer and Neumeister fell into each other’s arms. Acosta was delighted and, at the chicane where he’d thrown away the sprint victory on Saturday, he tipped his KTM onto its right side. The marshals helped him right the bike, and Jack Miller gave it a push to get it running again.

Topic of the week

Spanish Grand Prix at the new Madring: track – hit or miss?

The people of Madrid had set their sights high for their city’s first Formula 1 World Championship race since 1981. But have the high expectations for the new Madring mixed-circuit track really been met?

Mathias Brunner

Read More

TV Program

Live

Motegi: International Livestream

MotoGP World Championship

02.10.2026 - 01:55

“The first win is always very special. It’s lovely to come full circle with KTM in front of all the Austrian fans. I’ve seen lots of KTM T-shirts, and I’m really happy for them – they deserve it even more than I do,” said the 22-year-old. “Yesterday, when I messed up, some great people really helped me out. It was incredible.”

In his 56th Grand Prix in the premier class, he secured his first MotoGP victory.