Less than 24 hours after the San Marino and the Rimini Riviera Grand Prix closed the sixteenth round of 2025 MotoGP, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing and Red Bull KTM Tech3 were back laying rubber at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli for the third one-day IRTA test of the year.
Sunshine and decent summer temperatures continued to beat down on the Italian asphalt near Riccione. The 91,000 Sunday crowds were gone but the speed remained. The Red Bull KTM race crews counted on the presence of MotoGP Hall of Famer Dani Pedrosa for extra input as the Grand Prix project worked on solutions and fixes for Misano and for the six Grands Prix still to come this season.
The high-grip nature of the tarmac in Misano and some ideas for modifications that couldn’t be tried in the hectic nature of a GP schedule were on the job list. Pedro Acosta, Brad Binder and Enea Bastianini as well as Maverick Viñales turned almost 400 laps as they also tried chassis configurations and other details. Acosta ended the day with the fastest lap-time; three tenths of a second from the lap record. Viñales, Binder and Bastianini registered the 10th, 11th and 13th quickest efforts respectively during their track stints.
The teams ended the day by packing freight in preparation for the Japanese Grand Prix in less than two weeks’ time. From Motegi the championship will travel to Mandalika in Indonesia, then to Phillip Island in Australia and onwards to Sepang in Malaysia to complete the overseas swing by the end of October.
Pedro Acosta, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, 1st: “Quite nice to come back after yesterday to show some speed. I wanted to improve my best set-up to be faster in the fast corners because we will have these sectors in Japan, Indonesia and Phillip Island and T2 in Malaysia. It was interesting how we were able to make improvements. We still have many good opportunities left this season and we will have time after Valencia to think about next year. A good day.”
Maverick Viñales, Red Bull KTM Tech3, 10th: “Today was about making laps and putting stress on the shoulder, to see how it will feel in the next days. I still cannot push the bike 100% so there was not much sense to try things, even if the track conditions feel fantastic. Now I need to train as much as I can, lift weights and build muscle to be more ready for Japan.”
Brad Binder, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, 11th: “Today was pretty solid. We tried some different frames and swingarms and found some potential for sure, and managed to make the bike more stable especially in the fast stuff. The feeling was quite a bit better even if I didn’t quite get the speed in T3. I think we made a pretty good step. I’m not sure on the timeline for everything but I think there is something we can try in Japan. Let’s see.”
