“We have a problem”told a senior leader of KTMthe powerful Austrian motorcycle brand, to a member of the company’s ‘staff’ Dorna Sportsorganizer of motorcycling world championshipon Saturday of Austrian Grand Prixwhich was held in the beautiful layout of Spielberg. “We have five riders and only four bikes.”insisting that they needed to increase the number of motorcycles to six. “They could have a bigger problem”the Dorna Sports representative told him, “if they only had three riders and four bikes”.
KTM has spent months, months, knowing that it would not have the fifth or the sixth motorcycle. That is to say, it was the Austrian firm that sought the problem, adding to its list of official pilots (Brad Binder, Jack Miller, Pol Espargaró and Augusto Fernández)the most fashionable name in the World Cup, that of the young Murcian Pedro Acosta, the already famous and popular ‘Shark of Mazarrón’Moto3 world champion and current undisputed leader of the Moto2 World Championship.
Beirer’s Defeat
KTM already knows that it is going to have to sacrifice one of its four riders to make room for Acosta, who is probably the only one of the four who could become, given his enormous quality and precocity, the young man who will provide him with his first MotoGP world title. The signature that he has as a trusted man in the circuits to Pit Beirer (“If we need an extra place for Acosta, we will create it,” he said recently) he will have to leave one of his current riders without a motorcycle to put Acosta on it.
Binder has just renewed for KTM until 2026, which means, without a doubt, that the ‘Shark of Mazarrón’ square will be the one occupied by Miller in the official team at the moment, which is unlikely, or that of any of the two riders of the Tech3 ‘satellite’ team, where KTM races under the name of the Catalan GasGas. The young Augusto Fernández, Moto2 world champion last year, and ‘Polyccio’ know that they are at stake in the next races.
test pilot
Of course, it is very likely that the discarded GasGas pilot will not be fired or have his contract terminated since he can stay, along with The days of Pedrosaas a KTM test rider and, in addition, have several chances to compete during 2024 either as a result of the many injuries that now occur in MotoGP (‘Polyccio’ has not raced for several months this year) or thanks to the various invitations (the so-called ‘wild card’) that the organization of the World Championship offered as compensation for the refusal to increase the number of KTM-GasGas on the top category grid.
Neither Acosta nor his entourage have opened their mouths during these months of tug of war between KTM and the championship organization, knowing, without a doubt, that he had already warned that his contract allowed him to be released if the Austrian firm did not raise him. to MotoGP.
No one, at this time, in the ‘paddock’ of the World Cup doubts that the ‘Shark of Mazarrón’ is the pilot with the greatest projection of the new generationbecause at only 19 years old, he will rise to MotoGP with the Moto3 and Moto2 world titles, something that very few champions have done.
2023-08-29 06:25:01
#KTM #bike #Acosta
