MotoGP | According to KTM “Marquez and Ducati are a real danger”

KTM has strengthened this season with the promotion to MotoGP of Spanish rider Pedro Acosta, Moto2 world champion in 2023 and Moto3 world champion in 2021. The Spaniard has won two titles in three years.

With the entry of the young Murcian talent into the GasGas satellite team, which this year will receive the same treatment and equipment as the official team, KTM hopes to be able to keep up with Ducati and challenge it for the world title. This is an ambitious goal, especially considering that last season the orange bikes didn't win a single race.

Pit Beirer, KTM sporting director, hopes that this season can change radically. In a meeting with the German media, the former motocross rider declared that the brand's new star, Pedro Acosta, had an “incredible” pre-season, which surprised with his working method and his maturity, despite not yet turning 20.

Furthermore, Beirer sees constant growth in the development of the RC16 and an improvement in the performance of its star driver, Brad Binder, who last season was constantly fighting for the podium, but had no luck.

In addition to the rivals expected for KTM, such as the official Ducati riders with the two-time world champion Pecco Bagnaia and Enea Bastianini or Jorge Martin, 2023 world vice champion, also riding a Desmosedici GP24, Beirer sees a new rival for his riders, Marc Marquez. The eight-time world champion, after eleven years with the factory Honda, will debut this year on a Ducati GP23 for the Gresini satellite team, a situation from which Beirer understands that it will be “a real danger”.

“Marc Márquez will be competitive on the Ducati from day one,” says the former motocross rider, now in the role of KTM sporting director, without hesitation. “Marc is a brilliant rider and now he has a very powerful bike. This combination will be very dangerous,” warns the German.

While many are banking on Marquez for a title challenge in his first season with Gresini, Beirer is more cautious about this possibility. Marc will undoubtedly be a very dangerous rival, “but I don't think he will be the new number one for Ducati and that he will make a leap in quality”, he reasons.

For Beirer, the level of the championship, at this moment, is very high and he believes that the rivalry that Márquez will have will be fierce. “He will have strong competition in his sector (Ducati). Pecco is an incredible champion, Jorge has the knife between his teeth. But Brad is also there with our bike. I don't expect a one-man show from Marc. But it will be competitive from day one,” Beirer says.