Pit Beirer reveals how Pedro Acosta tempted Maverick Vinales to join KTM MotoGP team

Add as preferred source on Google

KTM have built an exciting rider line-up ahead of the 2025 MotoGP season despite their ongoing financial crisis.

Brad Binder will remain with the factory KTM team in 2025 after finishing fifth in the standings last season. The 29-year-old has spent his entire MotoGP career with the team.

But the South African will have strong competition in Pedro Acosta as his teammate. The Spaniard finished just two points behind him in 2024 and grabbed five podiums to his one.

Binder was in awe of Acosta’s braking on the KTM bike last year. He will have to be on his game if he is to get the better of the 20-year-old sensation.

Jack Miller and Augustin Fernandez have both left KTM after enduring a difficult 2024 campaign. The manufacturer have replaced them with respective factory Aprilia and Ducati riders Maverick Vinales and Enea Bastianini.

The duo will race with the satellite Tech3 team in 2025. All four KTM riders have signed factory contracts, giving the manufacturer a competitive rider line-up for the next two years.

Pedro Acosta’s success gave Maverick Vinales confidence to show KTM he could do the same

Vinales joins KTM off the back of finishing seventh in the standings in 2024. His win in Austin was the only Grand Prix not won by a Ducati bike.

The Spaniard comes to the satellite Tech3 team with great experience and as a multiple-race winner. According to KTM motorsport director Pit Beirer, Vinales is keen to show the team he can succeed just as Acosta did last season.

Speaking on episode three of MotoGP’s documentary series There Can Be Only One, the Austrian is ‘sure’ KTM can fight for the title in the next two years with their current line-up.

READ MORE: Everything to know about KTM from the MotoGP team’s riders to hierarchy

“Now I feel we’ve reached another level. Pedro came in as a rookie and could go on the podium with that bike,” he said.

“And then that gives confidence to riders like Maverick: ‘Ok, if the rookie can go on the podium with that bike, give it to me, let me show you’.

“I know we have the strongest line-up we could ever have and that’s, I feel the package to make the next step in this class.

“This is the line-up where I’m really sure in the next two years we are going to fight for the title. Let’s continue. We don’t give up until we reach the very top of this class”.

How competitive will KTM be in 2025 amid their desperate financial situation?

KTM have ambitious targets for the future with their four riders. The manufacturer are looking to build upon their successful 2024 season as they boast the second-fastest bike.

But the future of KTM in MotoGP has been thrown into uncertainty amid the company’s financial problems. With debts of around £2.5bn, they face the possibility of closing its doors.

The situation has caused concerns from people within the team, including Acosta, who has looked to find answers as to whether KTM will be competitive in 2025.

Ex-team manager Francesco Guidotti says performance is not KTM’s priority in 2025 – a huge worry for Acosta. The company are desperate to resolve their crisis off the track to keep the motorsport division in operation.

KTM’s primary sponsor Red Bull would have to pay up to £100 million to take over the company. While this would be the ‘ideal scenario’, Red Bull are not a ‘serious’ candidate to save KTM.