Brilliant Brno. Red Bull KTM had cause to plant another MotoGP milestone at the Grand Prix of Czechia with Pedro Acosta racing to 3rd place in front of 95,700 fans wedged into the famous Automotodrom. The result marks the first GP podium for the KTM RC16 in 2025. The Spaniard followed up his P2 in the Saturday Sprint at the twelfth meeting of the season with a strong blast to P3 on Sunday. Meanwhile, the KTM GP Academy made it to the top of the Moto3 rostrum once more thanks to Jose Antonio Rueda’s seventh win of the year with the Red Bull KTM Ajo KTM RC4.
The sun shone on a resurrected Automotodrom Brno as both MotoGP and the crowds returned for the first time in five years. In 2020 the world championship rounded the 5.4km layout and Brad Binder flew to KTM’s very first premier class victory. Expectations were lofty after a bright Saturday in 2025 where Pedro Acosta led the Sprint and classified P2 by less than a second and Enea Bastianini surged to P3: Red Bull KTM’s maiden Prosecco bottles this term.
Sunday’s Grand Prix lasted for 21 laps. Acosta started from P7 on the grid, Bastianini in P11 and Pol Espargaro and Brad Binder had work to do from P14 and P19 respectively. Acosta and Bastianini swung into action near the front of the field. Pedro hunted the rear wheel of Marco Bezzecchi for P2 for long stages and then had to defend 3rd place in the final two laps with tire wear increasing. Enea’s charge to P4 was short-lived as he lost control entering Turn 3 on lap seven and went into the gravel. Despite the DNF, the Italian emerged unharmed and encouraged by his most competitive weekend of the season to-date.
In the wake of two double headers in five weeks, MotoGP will now break for a summer hiatus. Round 13 will take place at the Red Bull Ring for the Grand Prix of Austria and home turf for the Red Bull KTM crews on August 15-17.
Pedro Acosta, 3rd and 7th in the championship standings:“The last time I was on the podium was in Thailand last year and it’s been a long journey to come back here. I want to thank all my orange crew: it was not easy for them, also to handle me when we had tough moments! We’ll keep going. We’ll have a break now and try for more at Red Bull Ring.”
Brad Binder, 9th and 12th in the championship standings: “I managed to get from 19th to 8th in the end so, yeah, I still never had the pace I was looking for but somehow we were a little better today. I found a way to be better in mid-corner and exit but I was losing a lot of time in braking and entry. This is something we have to work on and find the combination, if we can do that then it can be very positive. We tried something completely different with the bike, a little bit with the engine character and it helped a bit with the edge grip and the drive. It just seemed to be a more controllable in my hand, so I was really happy about that and by no means am I happy with 8th position but – even though it doesn’t look like it – we are slowly starting to figure it out. The really good thing is that both Pedro and Enea were super-fast this weekend so I have some good things to check and figure out how they are doing it.”
Pol Espargaro, 10th: “I had a little of everything this weekend. In yesterday’s Sprint I was super-relaxed and enjoyed it so much, and in the race maybe I asked a little bit too much of myself, especially at the start and with a new system we have. Then I calmed myself and said ‘I am here to enjoy…’The bike was good and working well this weekend from the beginning. I came back quite quick, and I think the rhythm was there to be fighting for 5-6th positions…but it was P9, and with that I can say I was quite pleased.There are three KTMs in the top ten, which is amazing. While I am racing I am testing as well and I think there are some updates about to come on the bike that are promising. I think they are going to come soon for our factory guys. I’m pretty positive for the second part of the year.”
Enea Bastianini, DNF and 17th in the championship standings: “The start was not as good as yesterday but I made a comeback, and coming up to 4th I braked hard for Turn 3 without any slipstream and I was with a lot of angle on entry. It was a mistake. I wanted to fight for the podium again today but it didn’t work out. The track here and the new tarmac was good for us this weekend. We knew straight away we could fight for something good. I think we have improved the riding and we made a step with the bike also.”
Aki Ajo, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Team Manager: “A great weekend. We are happy to continue the solid work for the race today, as yesterday, and the whole GP has been positive for us. It’s a reward for all the work over the last months. The podium speed on both days for Pedro and Enea proves that we are in the right direction and I’m also happy with the results of Brad and Pol. Having those top ten results is very important and, of course, it’s down to the riders but also the hard work of all the people at the factory and the race teams and the development crew. A huge thanks to everyone.”
