Runner-up and season-best for Acosta as MotoGP returns to Hungary

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Pedro Acosta charged to 2nd place at the fourteenth round of 2025 MotoGP as the series made a sun-kissed return to Hungary. The second Grand Prix in successive weekends saw more competitive potential for the Red Bull KTM teams across the three days at Balaton Park, and the second time the KTM RC16 earned a podium trophy in three fixtures. The KTM GP Academy had a strong day in front of 32,000 spectators as Red Bull KTM Tech3‘s Valentin Perrone was only 0.1 of a second from victory in Moto3.

Pedro Acosta rebounds from his Saturday Sprint to cut his way to P2 and collect another bounty of championship points to rise to 5th in the standings. Brad Binder tweaks his KTM RC16 race set-up further for decent front-end feel and is able to capture 7th place for the second weekend in a row in spite of a technical issue.

The chicanes and tight curves of the two-year-old 4km Balaton Park circuit gave MotoGP a compact and tricky outing for overtaking. The first Hungarian Grand Prix in 33 years activated the flat course close to Lake Balaton and race day took place in hot, sunny and breezy conditions. Advanced qualification grid slots were crucial for podium prospects due to the narrow nature of the layout. The Red Bull KTM quartet started the 26-lap chase from P4 for Enea Bastianini, P7 for Pedro Acosta (who had set some of the fastest laps of the weekend in practice), P12 for Pol Espargaro and P13 for Brad Binder who missed out on Q2 by the slimmest of margins.

Bastianini’s progress was blocked by a double long lap penalty. The Italian was hit during the first corner of the Saturday Sprint but then a damaged rear ride height device meant he made contact with another rider on the same lap: the second incident was the cause of the sanction. Acosta made a decent getaway as did Bastianini but the Italian slid out of the race on the first lap. Pedro kept a top four berth as Binder and Espargaro hovered on the fringe of the top ten.

The race settled into a rhythm and Acosta was focused and effective to pass two rivals at close quarters and move up to 2nd. The young Spaniard had a close view of the lead at one stage but eased his pace in relative comfort to cross the line as runner-up. The performance meant another Prosecco bottle for Pedro – his second of 2025 after initially breaching the top three in Czechia – and his seventh career rostrum appearance in less than two years of MotoGP. Brad rallied to 7th to match his classification from the Austrian Grand Prix the previous Sunday, even though he was dealing with a small rear end issue. Pol battled with double world champion Francesco Bagnaia and defeated the Italian for a well-deserved 8th; another personal best of 2025.

MotoGP will now break for a week ahead of back-to-back races in Catalunya and San Marino. The stint will precede the overseas stage of the calendar and Grands Prix in Japan, Indonesia, Australia and Malaysia. The paddock will form-up again on September 5-7.

credit: KTM

photos from: KTM and Pedro Acosta facebook page