Marco Bezzecchi
Paul Trevathan believes KTM rider Pedro Acosta proved his doubters wrong during the 2025 MotoGP season, after hearing “everyone” attack one of his alleged weaknesses.
Trevathan followed Acosta over to the factory KTM team in 2025, after first working with the 21-year-old in his rookie MotoGP season with Tech3 in 2024. Trevathan will once again work with Acosta in 2026, whereas KTM have named Phil Marron as Brad Binder’s new crew chief.
Acosta emerged as the top KTM rider during the 2025 season, as he finished the year fourth in the standings on 307 points. Binder was the second-best KTM rider in 11th on 155 points. Tech3 duo Enea Bastianini and Maverick Vinales ranked 14th and 18th on 112 and 72 points.
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Pedro Acosta proved ‘everyone’ wrong with his tyre management at Sepang in 2025
KTM even saw Acosta secure all but one of the brand’s podiums in 2025, with Bastianini the only other rider to reach a rostrum aboard the RC16 with his P3 in Catalunya. Acosta took P2 finishes in Hungary, Indonesia and Malaysia, as well as P3 finishes in Czechia and Portugal.
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Trevathan was particularly impressed by Acosta’s P2 finish in the 2025 Malaysian Grand Prix, as he thinks the Mazarron native proved his doubters wrong. He often heard “everyone” say that Acosta overworks his tyres, but the opposite was true at Sepang during round 20 of 22.
“I was super proud of him in the Sepang race because of the management situation with the tyres,” Trevathan told Crash.” We’d heard everyone say, ‘Pedro’s too hard [on the tyres]’. But how he controlled that race was very good.
“Then I would say the best pure performance was perhaps the Sprint in Portimao, where he could really fight from the beginning to the end. So, this was another fantastic race.”
Francesco Bagnaia had no response to Pedro Acosta’s pace in the Malaysian Grand Prix
Acosta initially stayed with Gresini rider Alex Marquez and Ducati racer Francesco Bagnaia at the start of the 2025 Malaysian GP, as the trio immediately dropped the chasing pack. While Marquez would ultimately pull away, Bagnaia could not respond to Acosta’s pace at Sepang.
KTM finally saw Acosta overtake Bagnaia for P2 in the Malaysian GP on Lap 13 of 20, as the Spaniard produced a great cutback out of Turn 9 to line up a move down the inside for T11. It proved to be decisive long before Bagnaia retired with a hole in his tyre at Sepang on L18.
A maiden MotoGP race win of any kind was then almost on the cards for Acosta in the Sprint Race at the Portuguese Grand Prix in round 21. KTM pilot Acosta finished only 0.120s behind Gresini’s Marquez in the Portimao Sprint after a race-long duel in the Algarve last November.
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