Austrian GP was a major surprise of the season as Pedro Acosta joined KTM for a win at the top, returning the two brands to their winning ways. The Red Bull Ring race also revealed that Ducati wasn’t really tough, and Aprilia continued to elevate its season with another impressive weekend as Jorge Martin played his role in the front of the race battle.
The Austrian GP was something different for the following reason: It was an unprecedented interloper in the MotoGP mould, one that has been the norm over the last few seasons. Ducati and Aprilia were always a tough opponent in the dry but KTM were the ones to perform when it counted for the final two times this week.
Few performances had looked better in recent races and here it was all coming together for Acosta at Austria. After the summer break, KTM had solved their predicament with the engine, while Acosta has been refining his racecraft and consistency.
These signs had already begun to show themselves in the practice, with Acosta being the man that looked like the rider of the future. But Saturday saw a major demoralization after he, in an impressive manner, ran into trouble on the track with only three turns left in the race. Had that been another fall in warm-up, it would have negatively impacted his confidence, but due to the fall, it seemed to be a reset.
Acosta played well and with control on Sunday. He seems to have been unaffected by the pressure of gaining his first MotoGP win and handled the race well to give KTM a highly sought-after victory.
This adds up to a big deal for a rider and the manufacturer. Acosta was greatly sought after as the future, but his Austrian GP performance could make a huge difference in a before season scenario.
Meanwhile, Ducati suffered from some problems throughout the weekend. MotoGP has returned to Spielberg since 2016 and the Red Bull Ring is one of their best circuits, but that’s not the case this year.
The Desmosedici was poor in one lap and over the distance. A variety of Ducati riders seemed to be having a problem with their rear tyre due to its stiffer characteristics, as the team struggled to get the performance it hoped for.
Marc Marquez could not take part in the front and Fermin Aldeguer and Fabio Di Giannantonio were not in the main battle. Alex Marquez had an even worse weekend though as he got into some trouble the weekend solid car hit all three days.
One of the plus points from the Austrian GP were the performances of Jorge Martin.Jorge Martin was one of the key factors that made the meeting in Austria a good one. He lost the race, but his performance reinforced his pace and fueled Aprilia’s important result in the Championship battle.
Martin started in pole with her awesome qualifying time keeping Aprilia’s pole streak going in 2026. He then bounced back with a recovery in the lead in the sprint when he slipped the rest of the way down the order in the opening lap.
Martin was the subject of a duel with Marco Bezzecchi in the opening laps on Sunday but dropped to second behind Acosta. His efforts weren’t enough to compete with the KTM rider until the last corner, but that certainly didn’t take anything away from him this time being Aprilia’s top challenge.
As MotoGP arrives in Asia, Bezzecchi’s problem with his form may be a matter, as might be the return of injury-stricken Ai Ogura.
However, it was an unmemorable weekend for Alex Marquez. Just a week ago he returned to the podium, and had a three-day pileup at the Red Bull Ring.
It had been a dramatic Friday as he had crashed, after losing control as he turned off from Turn 1. Later he will reveal that one of his many meltdowns was and is caused by a combination of a wheelie with locked brakes.
Qualifying saw him falling further & further back for his 6th position on the grid. The race would have been that much harder. He started poorly on a wet, uneven track, leading him into the road, and furthering making his race difficult by being involved in a clash with another car, team-mate Aldeguer.
But Marquez was soon getting the same treatment when he had to pull his bike from the dirt on lap 13, chasing Raul Fernandez for 12th place. Aprilia was on fire with him so Ducati needed him to score points and manage to minimise the damage in the championship battle. Rather, he found he had not won what the team was hoping.
The good news for Ducati was coming from one of the few survivors – Francesco Bagnaia. The Italian finally got to the point after three tough weekends, with some signs that he was regaining his confidence.
Ducati tweaked things over the weekend and from the get-go, Bagnaia stroked the engine better. He faded to sixth out of the sprint and still remained competitive, but once again vied for place in the main race.
He could not have done more, but problems with his brakes caused him to come in eighth and rise to seventh on the scoreboard after a penalty was cashed in by Aldeguer. Did not achieve a “podium” performance, but a step forward from a tough run.
Raul Fernandez had another down weekend, too. Rear-tyre issues dogged his efforts, and lack of run-up to Q2 is seen as a reason for him to get into in both starts.
It was made even more difficult for him when the double long-lap penalty in the sprint was imposed. Fernandez finally saw improvement but, it came a bit late Sunday. He was a competitive bike but unable to take his improvements and finished 12th.
So the Austrian GP had quite different results on the MotoGP field. For Acosta and KTM, it was the breakthrough they hoped for, for Martin, it was the needed pick up to put Aprilia back in.
But Ducati found itself with its own issues revealed by Spielberg that will have to be grasped rapidly. Still in its crucial phase and with Asian races coming up next, the Austrian race might be pivotal to the 2026 season.
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