KTM Motorsport Director Pit Beirer compared Pedro Acosta’s approach to MotoGP to seven-time Formula 1 champion Michael Schumacher.
Beirer highlighted the value Acosta brings to the organisation as he made his factory KTM debut in Thailand at the start of March.
The 20-year-old started his sophomore year in the premier class after finishing sixth in his rookie campaign, racking up eight podiums across both Sprint and grand prix races.
“We see that he wants to ride a motorcycle every day, and is tirelessly working to find tracks to train on,” Beirer stated to GPOne in pre-season.
“The results of his fitness and performance tests are all extremely good. Pedro [Acosta] gives it his all.
“We call him a rough diamond. But he wasn’t just born with a great talent, and he’s not resting on his laurels. He certainly has a huge amount of talent, but he also works day and night to achieve maximum success.
“He rides his motorcycle day and night. In my opinion, more than anyone else, and he’s certainly the last rider to leave the paddock because he studies the data very thoroughly with his crew chief Paul Trevathan.
“With his meticulous approach, Pedro reminds me a lot of Michael Schumacher, who always got the most out of his technical package.”
KTM ‘promised’ Pedro Acosta a race winning bike
Beirer heaped further praise on Acosta and called him a talent “you probably only find once in a decade.”
The Spaniard immediately impressed in his second ever grand prix by winning in Qatar, after starting the race from the pit lane.
When asked if Acosta is the most gifted talent to climb up the MotoGP ladder in KTM colours, Beirer didn’t think twice.
“Yes. And during his Moto3 debut in Doha, he even had to start out of the pit lane.
“Pedro is an exceptional talent, the kind you probably only find once in a decade. He’s not the normal Moto2 world champion who then moves up into the higher category, but he’s an exceptional diamond in the rough. The whole scene agrees on that.
“But he has big shoes to fill if you compare him to Marc Marquez, already after his first MotoGP season. Besides, these comparisons are of no use to us. We have to focus on working with him.”
He admitted that he promised Acosta a winning RC16 for the 2025 season, though it remains to be seen whether a victory is attainable.
“Pedro gives us everything, and he demands everything from us. For example, when it comes to the question of whether we’ve done everything to put the best possible motorcycle in the pit for him.
“When during the winter, he asked us whether we were prepared to give him a winning motorcycle, we said ‘yes’. We promised him that.”
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