Pedro Acosta: 'I should not be leading the MotoGP championship'

KTM star Pedro Acosta says maintaining his early lead in the MotoGP standings is not his priority, as he remains focused on minimising mistakes in his third season in the premier class.

Acosta enjoyed the best weekend of his MotoGP career at the Thailand Grand Prix, scoring his maiden win in the sprint before finishing second to Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi in the grand prix.

Accumulating 32 points across the Buriram round, he comfortably outscored his closest rival Bezzecchi, who crashed out from the sprint, becoming the first KTM rider in history to lead the championship.

However, having not suffered a single crash since the start of pre-season testing in February, the Spaniard insists his focus remains on avoiding the errors that compromised him in his first two seasons in the championship.

Asked what it meant to lead the standings ahead of this weekend’s Brazilian GP, he said: “It's cool, but in the end I know that maybe it's not my place to be.

“You can imagine it's super nice to see yourself on top of the MotoGP world standing but it's not our target now.

“I have to keep working like I'm doing. I was really happy about the race that we're doing in Thailand because I was not committing mistakes like I normally made last year. But we have to keep working like this.

“We know that we should not be leading the championship. We have to keep going with our target to always be in the top five.”

Pedro Acosta, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing

Photo by: Lillian Suwanrumpha / AFP via Getty Images

KTM significantly overhauled the RC16 over the winter break, with Brad Binder backing up team-mate Acosta’s efforts to finish seventh at Buriram and Tech3 rider Enea Bastianini also scoring points.

These results put the factory KTM squad at the top of the teams’ standings, while the Austrian marque is tied with Aprilia in the constructors’ table.

It marks a stark contrast to 2025, when KTM began the season on the back foot after financial issues impacted the development of the bike.

Asked whether the improved results were down to his own progress or the changes made by KTM, Acosta said: “In this stage of the year, maybe both because at one stage in the first part of last season, I was angry all day and I was quite negative. 

“At the end, it's clear that we are able to survive more with the tyres during the race, and this is the first step to be competitive. After that, the bike is becoming more easy [to ride], also the team is working faster. Also from Mattighofen they push just [from] the bottom and go flat out all winter.

“Maybe also the general situation of the brand is quite better. I think it's a combination of many things.”