KTM motorsport boss Pit Beirer has given strong backing to the Austrian manufacturer, as he urges the world to \u201cdon\u2019t underrate the bike\u201d it has in MotoGP.<\/p>\n
The brand has steadily worked its way back into regular podium contention as the 2025 season has gone on, following a tough start to the campaign in the wake of a financial crisis for the parent company.<\/p>\n
The lack of results in the early part of the season led to tensions with Pedro Acosta<\/a>, who was linked with moves away from KTM<\/a> to VR46 Ducati and Honda for 2026 despite having a contract in place.<\/p>\n Acosta is set to be a major player in the rider market next year for 2027, with that fact only heightening the longer KTM\u2019s current near-three-season winless streak continues.<\/p>\n Often, Acosta has been a cut above the rest of the KTM stable, but Pit Beirer insists that the RC16 is \u201cclose\u201d to being a winner despite the talents of its \u201coutstanding rider\u201d.<\/p>\n Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n \u201cI mean, with Pedro, we have an outstanding rider,\u201d he told the MotoGP world feed on Friday in Portugal.<\/p>\n \u201cWe know that. We are close. You see, sometimes, one weekend Aprilia is dominant, and then the next weekend is out of the top 10.<\/p>\n \u201cBut we were there. Next weekend, Ducati is there and Aprilia is nowhere, and we were there.<\/p>\n \u201cSo, it looks like we are close, but we miss that little extra to maybe give the rider the tools so he doesn\u2019t have to go over the limit.<\/p>\n \u201cEverything needs to be perfect to perform. So, I think we have very little margin.<\/p>\n Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n \u201cSo, I think we need a wider base to make it easier. Yes, we have a fantastic rider, but don\u2019t underrate the bike. We are close.\u201d<\/p>\n KTM has time to convince Acosta, but \u201cnot too much\u201d<\/p>\n The upcoming winter tests will be vital for KTM in convincing Acosta to commit to the brand for the rules reset in 2027.<\/p>\n Beirer admits KTM has \u201cnot too much\u201d time to do so, but \u201cI feel we have a lot to show\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that\u2019s very clear,\u201d he replied when asked about the importance of the next few months in convincing Acosta.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat I saw in the press is what we say to him, and we know him.<\/p>\n Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n \u201cSo, he\u2019s not here to make the maximum amount of money.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel we have a little bit of time – not too much – left to prove that we are the right partners for him.<\/p>\n \u201cJust look at where we were at the beginning of the year, and we\u2019ve come a long way to be already very competitive.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd looking to the 2027 bike, the engine is already up and running, and very promising. So, I feel we have a lot to show.\u201d<\/p>\n Subscribe to our MotoGP Newsletter<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"KTM motorsport boss Pit Beirer has given strong backing to the Austrian manufacturer, as he urges the world…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":270743,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[64,63,806,805,803,804,10734,10670,85],"class_list":["post-270742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-motosport","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-motor","tag-motor-sports","tag-motosport","tag-motosports","tag-pedro-acosta","tag-red-bull-ktm-factory-racing","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270742","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=270742"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270742\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/270743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=270742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=270742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=270742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}