KTM turns its home Grand Prix into its best Sunday of the season

Acosta’s victory is not KTM’s only positive result. Brad Binder finished sixth, his best result of the season, after also running in the group containing Marc Márquez. Both factory bikes therefore finished inside the top six at the manufacturer’s home circuit.

The weekend had already shown that the RC16 had an especially strong operating window at the Red Bull Ring: Acosta topped Friday and led the Sprint comfortably before crashing. Sunday confirmed that the same speed could last over a full Grand Prix distance.

The next question is how transferable that performance will be. Spielberg traditionally rewards KTM’s braking and acceleration strengths. Motegi will provide a different test, but the manufacturer leaves Austria with a win it had been waiting for since 2022 and with Binder back to his best finish of the year.