Pedro Acosta’s maiden MotoGP victory at the Red Bull Ring is not being treated by Paul Trevathan as the limit of the rider’s development. KTM’s crew chief sees a 22-year-old who is still finding new steps, making his eventual level unusually difficult to predict.

Asked how much more room Acosta has to improve, Trevathan described it as a “scary question” because he could not give a clear answer. Acosta spent a month away from racing during the summer break and returned at a higher level. Trevathan said the reset did more than sharpen the rider: it also pushed the KTM operation to keep improving the motorcycle. In his view, elite riders often produce that kind of change over a winter, whereas Acosta managed it in the middle of a season.

Acosta had opened the campaign with a Sprint win and an early championship lead. KTM’s reliability troubles then combined with performance losses from faulty engine parts, sending him as low as seventh in the standings after he scored only three of 74 available points between Balaton Park and the German Grand Prix. Once the engine problem was solved, full performance returned from Aragon, where Acosta began a podium sequence that culminated in Austria. He has already secured a factory Ducati contract for 2027, but continues to push KTM. Acosta starts the Japanese Grand Prix fourth in the championship, 72 points behind Jorge Martin.