Pedro Acosta powered into Q2 after topping Friday in Austria
NXTbets Pro | Published On: September 19, 2026
Acosta leads Friday
Acosta set the pace twice Friday at the Austrian Grand Prix, and he did it with speed that carried across both of KTM’s key sessions at the Red Bull Ring. The KTM rider opened the day by leading FP1 with a fastest lap of 1:29.851, then returned later Friday to top practice again with a 1:28.381. Those laps put Acosta on top of the timesheet at KTM’s home race and gave the factory a clean start to the weekend.
Acosta and Pol Espargaro delivered a 1-2 for KTM in FP1, with Espargaro 0.233 seconds behind after recovering from a small crash at Turn 4. It was KTM’s first 1-2 in any session since practice at the 2025 Catalan Grand Prix. The pace at the front came in tight groups, with Jorge Martin third despite an early technical issue and Marc Marquez fourth. The field stayed close from top to bottom, too, with the fastest 16 riders in FP1 separated by less than one second. In the later session, Acosta again held the edge, finishing 0.127 seconds ahead of Fermin Aldeguer and keeping his name at the top of the order from one run to the next.
KTM backs Acosta
KTM’s strength on Friday came from the kind of traits that mattered at the Red Bull Ring. The bike showed strong straight-line speed and braking performance, and Acosta used both to build early control of the weekend. Espargaro’s response in FP1 added weight to the result. He bounced back from the Turn 4 crash and still finished second, which gave KTM two riders near the front.
The rest of the session showed how difficult the margin for error was. Martin still managed third after his early technical problem, while Marquez held fourth and stayed within the same compressed lead group. Ai Ogura’s run fit the same pattern of close gaps, with the injured rider in his comeback finishing 19th and 1.4 seconds behind Acosta. The numbers pointed to a weekend that offered little separation among the top riders, but KTM could point to one clear advantage on Friday. Acosta had the speed, Espargaro backed it up, and the factory opened its home event with its best session result in more than a year.
Q2 keeps Acosta
Acosta’s Friday form also carried him straight into Q2, another sign that he started the Austrian Grand Prix with the kind of pace that could shape a weekend early. The result gave him a chance to skip the first cut in qualifying and focus on the faster group. That mattered because Acosta was still chasing his first MotoGP victory, and he was doing so while preparing to leave KTM at the end of the year.
He did not turn the strong start into bigger expectations. When asked about his chance for a first premier-class win, Acosta said it was “still Friday.” He also said KTM still lacks the speed to win races and remains behind Ducati and Aprilia. That assessment matched the broader picture from Friday, where KTM looked sharp but still had work to do before race day. Acosta remained without a Sunday victory after 55 MotoGP starts, so the pressure on the rest of the weekend remained clear. Friday gave him the platform he wanted. It did not answer the bigger question, and Acosta knows that.
