Red Bull KTM Factory Racing and Red Bull KTM Tech3 can now look to the first of 22 Grands Prix this season after completing two hot and hectic days of testing activity at the Buriram International Circuit in Thailand. As in Malaysia last week, Pedro Acosta was the pacesetter from the quartet on KTM RC16s and ended the second day 4th fastest.
The rush to the opening round of the campaign continued in earnest and in the roasting dry heat at Buriram, the circuit where the Thai Grand Prix will take place the first weekend of March. The two Red Bull KTM teams had travelled from Sepang, Malaysia to Bangkok for the official season launch last weekend and then headed northeast from the capital for the last phases of testing and homologation decisions for this term and for 2026.
The factory had to gather and filter all the information from the hundreds of laps at Sepang. The outings at Buriram meant more evaluation and then confirmation of settings and hardware choices with the Thai GP very much on the horizon.
Acosta’s best lap was less than 0.3 of a second from P1 as Maverick Viñales, Brad Binder and Enea Bastianini were all within one second of the top of the time sheets. Viñales placed 9th on combined times for the two days and 0.7 away. Binder was a fraction adrift in P12 and 0.8. Bastianini ranked P15 in just his third outing with the KTM RC16. The top 15 MotoGP riders were separated by one second at Buriram.
Red Bull KTM Factory Racing and Red Bull KTM Tech3 will now have a brief respite to apply their final touches to the race machinery and confirm engine and aerodynamic mods for 2025. MotoGP will assemble in Buriram during the final week of February to get an exciting and anticipated year speeding into action.
Pedro Acosta, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, 4th: “We need to be happy. Again, we tried many things and we are getting the pace quite fast. It’s been a good pre-season for me and also for KTM because all four riders are thinking the same way, and the bike has already improved from last year. We are faster and it is easier for me to go faster. We need to be calm and then see how we can start the season here.”
Maverick Viñales, Red Bull KTM Tech3, 9th: “I am still trying to understand entry and braking – which is one of the strong parts of the bike – because I’m not yet at the maximum. The exit of the corner is so nice and I have grip. Anyway, it’s coming! I feel comfortable but to get to the next point I just need a little bit more understanding and I’m missing little bits on a flying lap. I need to put the tricks of the bike into my style and it takes time. I’m much closer than I was in Sepang, so that is good.”
Brad Binder, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, 12th: “Two days here has gone quickly. We did some time attacks in the morning today and then a longer run in the afternoon and it was not too bad. Some small steps for sure, and better than when we were here last time. I feel that we are doing quite well and we need to put some more small pieces together for when we come back here in two weeks. It will be nice to have a full race weekend: I feel like we have done a lot of testing already!”
Enea Bastianini, Red Bull KTM Tech3, 15th: “My approach has to be different. The bike is different and I have to adapt to another style and also understand the difference between new and used tires. We didn’t get a Sprint simulation done today but we can just look ahead to the race now.”
Aki Ajo, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Team Manager: “Very busy weeks in Malaysia and Thailand but finally we have to be happy about all the development that has happened over the winter; for that a big thanks to all the engineers and the crew at the factory who have been working hard in this short time. The team at the tracks have been very focused and we have followed the program quite well. Here at Buriram we turned to testing a bit more for the season ahead and it has been promising. Testing is always testing but the measuring point then comes at the races. As I say constantly: let’s try to be better each day and that’s the way ahead.”
Sebastian Risse, KTM Technical Director MotoGP: “We are now ready for the first race. What we did here was a continuation of what we were working on in Sepang, not only for the homologation but for other parts we’ve been working on in a short logistical time frame, far from our base. We had to work very hard to get everything here and ready but we did it. These days we managed to bring all of our test items together as well as the directions people were going with their choices into a common path. We were fast and the bike feels good for the guys who have experience with it, while we went through a learning curve with the others but they showed some good highlights and I think there is more to come. We need to analyze and think about our tire wear for the full race distance and this is something we’ll be doing over the coming week.”
