Acosta erases his Sprint crash with his first MotoGP victory

Pedro Acosta answered his Sprint crash in the clearest possible way: he won the Austrian Grand Prix and claimed his first MotoGP victory at his 56th attempt. After fifteen podiums without a Sunday win, the KTM rider passed Jorge Martín on lap nine of 28 and went on to win by 1.01 seconds. Marco Bezzecchi completed the podium ahead of Ai Ogura.

The circumstances add even more weight to the result. On Saturday, Acosta had thrown away a nearly secured win when he crashed while leading by almost three seconds. On Sunday morning he fell again in warm-up. This time, he converted the speed he had shown all weekend into victory without repeating the mistake.

KTM therefore returns to Grand Prix victory for the first time since Thailand 2022, and does so at its home circuit. Acosta will nevertheless leave the manufacturer at the end of the season to join Ducati in 2027. Spielberg becomes both his first premier-class victory and one of the final major symbols of his time with KTM.