Marco Bezzecchi
Pedro Acosta is known to be leaving KTM to join Ducati, and teammate Brad Binder will follow him out of the team – but not by choice.
KTM have lined up Alex Marquez and Fabio Di Giannantonio as their 2027 riders, and with Binder not in the running at Tech3, the South African is set to drop off the grid. It could be the end of his MotoGP career altogether.
Acosta and Binder get on well but, above all else, it’s the arrival of the Spaniard that has killed his teammate’s career.
Will Brad Binder be on the MotoGP grid in 2027?
Brad Binder would still be a KTM rider in 2027 if Pedro Acosta hadn’t come along
Acosta made his MotoGP debut with Tech3 in 2024 before stepping up to the factory team. Binder finished fifth in the championship that year, two points ahead of the rookie in the best non-Ducati slot.
But since joining the factory team, Acosta has combined the formidable speed he showed at the outset with growing consistency. Last year, he scored 307 points to Binder’s 155, finishing seven places higher in the championship.
That trend is continuing this year. While consecutive DNFs have seen Acosta drop to seventh place, he remains six spots above his teammate and has scored nearly 70% of KTM’s points (133 to Binder’s 58).
In qualifying, the numbers are even more brutal. Acosta whitewashed Binder last season and has extended the streak to 31-0 so far this year.
Pedro Acosta now leads the way for most podiums without a win. What does this record say about him? 🍾
But compare Binder to the other RC16 riders, and the picture changes. Since the start of 2025, he has outscored Enea Bastianini 213-181.
Yes, he had the advantage of being a career KTM rider, but beating a seven-time Grand Prix winner like Bastianini is still commendable. The comparison with Maverick Vinales is murkier given Top Gun’s injury troubles.
While it’s assumed that Vinales has a higher ceiling when fully healthy, he hasn’t been able to demonstrate this on track for the past year.
Binder’s performances have been mediocre – he would probably consider that assessment kind – but one could still make the case that he has been KTM’s second-best rider. The problem is that Acosta has raised the bar.
Binder and Bastianini show what a solid rider can do on the bike, but Acosta shows what an elite rider can do. He is riding at a standard that the others simply don’t have the talent to reach, which is why Ducati have signed him.
If he had broken through with another manufacturer, the true potential of the KTM may well have been disguised. But having a rider of Acosta’s calibre in the same garage has shown how much time Binder is leaving on the table and done irreparable damage to his stock.
Ultimately, it can’t be seen as an excuse, but when a generational prospect comes along, hard work alone isn’t enough to compete.
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