Marco Melandri fears KTM will fail Pedro Acosta with ‘major’ issue for MotoGP team

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KTM parent company Pierer Mobility AG continues to deal with its financial crisis that Marco Melandri fears will see its MotoGP team fail their star 2025 rider, Pedro Acosta.

The Spanish sensation has stepped up from satellite KTM team, Tech3, to partner with Brad Binder from the 2025 season. Acosta produced an astounding rookie season in the premier class last year to see that he forced a way into the factory KTM squad to replace Jack Miller.

Acosta signed a two-year contract with KTM to match the duration of the new terms Binder penned in 2024. They will stay at the crew to the end of MotoGP’s current regulations. KTM also signed new Tech3 pilots Enea Bastianini and Maverick Vinales to two-year factory deals.

KTM’s financial problems will hurt their MotoGP bike development

But Acosta has moved into the factory KTM team at a time that their parent company, Pierer Mobility AG, is fighting debts reportedly amounting to £2.4bn. Yet KTM insist they will be on the 2025 MotoGP grid, and will also continue to be involved in the Moto2 plus Moto3 fields.

Even if KTM do race in 2025, Melandri fears Pierer Mobility AG’s financial problems will hurt the brand’s factory MotoGP team and prevent them from achieving even Acosta’s minimum expectations for bike development. He is sure that KTM’s R&D work will have to slow down.

READ MORE: Every MotoGP team’s confirmed 2025 rider line-up and contract details

“This KTM one has been a cold shower for everyone,” Melandri has told Moto Sprint. “Until recently, it seemed that KTM were going to conquer the world. While, suddenly, they found themselves in a difficult situation to recover.

“From the outside, the best solution seems to be to split up and sell everything in blocks. Racing will continue regardless, but development will inevitably suffer a major slowdown. I think everyone will be affected.

“Acosta expects a certain type of development that probably won’t happen, and the same goes for Bastianini and Vinales. Sometimes a lot of racing costs can be passed on to series production, for example the hours in the wind tunnel, but now all of this will be gone.”

Pedro Acosta is monitoring the MotoGP rider market amid KTM’s problems

Struggling to develop the RC16 might not be KTM’s only problem as their parent company’s financial crisis has seen Acosta make moves in the MotoGP rider market. Yet the 20-year-old will hope KTM have enough of a budget to arrange some R&D work if they do make the grid.

Last year was often a struggle for the Austrian outfit and Binder admits KTM created ‘critical issues’ with their 2024 MotoGP bike to try to find more performance. But their radical tactic still left the team seeking answers to improve the RC16’s grip, under braking and in corners.

Acosta was still able to impress on the RC16 at Tech3 as the Spaniard stepped up to MotoGP as the Moto2 champion. He achieved five Grand Prix podium finishes in his rookie campaign as Acosta immediately got on the pace, so will want to now become a race-winner for KTM.