Pedro Acosta prefers “not to imagine” Ducati MotoGP future

Amid rumours of a potential exit from KTM, two-time World Champion Pedro Acosta says he would prefer “not to imagine” how he would get on with the Desmosedici.

Ducati’s dominance of the MotoGP World Championship has, on-paper, declined slightly in 2025 compared to 2024.

Last year, Ducati won all but one grand prix, whereas in 2025, after eight rounds, it has already been beaten in France (where Johann Zarco won on a Honda) and Britain (where Marco Bezzecchi won on an Aprilia).

However, while Ducati has been beaten on occasions this year, it has also won six of the opening eight races and has a 100 per cent record in the Sprints.

KTM, in contrast, hasn’t been as close to victory this year as it was in Aragon last weekend, where Pedro Acosta finished fourth behind an all-Ducati podium (the fifth of the season), but it was still seven seconds behind the winner.

Such performance has prompted frustration from Acosta, who is in his first season as a Red Bull KTM Factory Racing rider.

Pedro Acosta quizzed about riding a Ducati

As a result of his dissatisfaction with the results this year, and also because of the financial uncertainty KTM faced since the end of 2024, Acosta has been linked with a move away.

Those links – naturally, given the perception of Acosta’s ability – have included speculation about a move to Ducati.

The RC16 and Desmosedici GP, though, are much different to each other: where the KTM is happy to slide and move around, the Ducati prefers to stay in-line in order to maximise lap time.

It’s a difference in approaches that prompts the question of whether Acosta, whose flamboyant style seems well-suited to the characteristics of the KTM, would be able to find the comfort needed to achieve top results on the Ducati.

“I don’t know,” Acosta said after the Aragon MotoGP when asked if he thought he would suit a Ducati.

“I always think that the human has to be like water – it doesn’t matter where you put the water, it will modify its form.

“Life is constant change. First you are single, then you get married, then you go to live with somebody.”

Asked if he could imagine himself on a Ducati, he replied simply: “I prefer to not imagine.”

The Spaniard’s contract with KTM runs until the end of the 2026 season, but Acosta ha repeatedly indicated his frustration with the RC16 project this season – in Aragon Acosta said that performance was “good, but not good enough”.

A Ducati switch for Acosta would most likely be with the VR46 Racing Team, where Fabio Di Giannantonio is on a factory contract until the end of next year, but where Franco Morbidelli is contracted only until the end of 2025.