KTM’s Pedro Acosta says top speed “is what we’re lacking the most” in the early stages of the 2026 MotoGP season, which has made him concerned for the upcoming US Grand Prix.

In recent years, KTM had become known for having MotoGP’s fastest bike, with Brad Binder setting a new top speed record at Mugello in 2023.

But Pedro Acosta has highlighted this as a key weakness for KTM now, following his seventh-place finish at the Brazilian Grand Prix, which saw him cede the championship lead to Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi.

The speed trap figures for the Brazil weekend saw the fastest KTM, which was Acosta, clocked at 342.8km/h compared to 348.3km/h for Marc Marquez on the Ducati.

Only Yamaha was slower than KTM at Brazil, with the V4 M1 clocked at a best of 341.7km/h.

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“Top speed is what we’re lacking the most,” Acosta said after the grand prix.

“If you can’t overtake or stay in the slipstream, everything becomes more difficult.

“For now, we can only get 100% out of what we have, which I believe we managed to do this weekend, limit the damage on the bad days and keep moving in this direction.”

He added: “I think I got the most out of what I have available, but I’m aware that it will be tough in Austin too because of the two long straights.

“That’s why we need to work on it.”

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Acosta was one of several riders to fit the soft rear tyre when the race distance was shortened from 31 laps to 23 due to the track breaking up at Turns 11 and 12.

Ultimately, it was a gamble that was only good enough to get him to seventh at the chequered flag.

“When I saw that the race had been shortened, I decided to put on the soft tyre,” he said.

“I think it worked, even though we’re lacking a lot of speed. In the end, only [Jorge] Martin passed me in a corner, at a braking point, so that’s something to work on.”

Acosta has now dropped to third in the standings, 14 points behind new leader Bezzecchi, having only come away from the sprint in Brazil with a single point.

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It’s a stark turnaround from the start to the campaign in Thailand for the KTM rider, who scored a maiden sprint victory and was second in the grand prix.

However, coming into the Brazil weekend, Acosta said he didn’t think he should have been leading the championship in the first place.

KTM boss Aki Ajo later believed Acosta’s comments were “out of context”, and clarified that he meant it was unexpected for him to be leaving Thailand with the lead in the standings.

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