Pedro Acosta scorched to a P4 finish at a steaming MotorLand Aragon today for the eighth round of 2025 MotoGP. The Spaniard blazed around the slick asphalt in eastern Spain for the Grand Prix of Aragon and for his second top five result of the season. The event was also notable for Alvaro Carpe claiming 3rd in the Moto3™ outing and Deniz Öncü’s amazing Moto2 success.
Some progress, performance and points: the Grand Prix of Aragon was another beneficial episode for the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing and Red Bull KTM Tech3 teams as the squads build their competitiveness to suit different circuits and different conditions. The race lasted for 23-laps, took place in hot summer temperatures and in front of 50,062 spectators around the 5km greasy track.
The South African made a better getaway from P6 for the Grand Prix and Pedro Acosta (P5) was also in the mix at the front. Maverick Viñales (P8) had to rally back from 12th on the first lap and Enea Bastianini had to recover ground starting from P17. The long distance was an exercise in grip management and tire preservation. Acosta and Binder hovered in the top five and with a close view of 2nd and 3rd until Brad crashed on lap 12. Pedro continued and went on to equal his season-best classification, achieved at Le Mans. Bastianini managed points with 12th.
Viñales had to chart a steady path back from 12th on the first lap. The Spaniard made some calculated passes and used his positive feeling to cut through to 8th but then spiraled out of the turning/braking phase into Turn 15 in the closing laps. He was able to recover the bike and ended the day 18th.
All four riders and the two teams will circulate MotorLand again on Monday for the second official one-day test of the season. MotoGP will next attack the Grand Prix of Italy in two weeks’ time. The date at Mugello will open a busy spell of four rounds in five weeks with trips to the Netherlands, Germany and Czech Republic to follow.
Pedro Acosta, 4th and 8th in the championship standings: “Taking the hard front tire was the right choice. I’m a guy that needs the front tire to go faster and yesterday it was a handicap. Today it was fantastic. We didn’t have the speed for the top three; it was a battle we would have lost but I really enjoyed the first five laps. We were losing a bit into the entry of the corners – we need traction and turning - but this was the race where we had a smaller gap to the winner. This is a positive.”
