18.11.2025
MotoGP began the countdown to next season less than two days after the close of the 2025 campaign with a short afternoon of sunny testing work at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit. A condensed period of laps took place in Spain, in the wake of the Valencian Grand Prix. Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Pedro Acosta was the fastest KTM RC16 rider with the 5th best lap from the four-and-a-half-hour window and was a marginal 0.2 of a second from the top slot.
Red Bull KTM Factory Racing and Red Bull KTM Tech3 tested new hardware, chassis parts, some ergonomic changes and experimented further with aerodynamic profiles as Pedro Acosta, Brad Binder, Enea Bastianini and Maverick Viñales hurriedly moved through the agenda. The Valencian asphalt had been coated by a thunderstorm on Monday evening, so the morning hours were scrubbed as the track dried in the sunshine.
Once up to speed the quartet managed over 200 circulations. Behind Pedro’s 5th quickest chrono was Maverick in P6 (both riders less than a quarter of a second from P1), Brad in P9 and Enea in P17.
MotoGP next enters the limelight with the first official 2026 preseason test at the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia from February 3-5 followed by the championship launch in Kuala Lumpur on February 6-7.
Pedro Acosta, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, 5th: “We tried a lot of aero stuff and it was quite OK. Some things made the bike feel more complete because we know our strong points are strong and our weak points are weak and they helped with this. The guys now need to analyze the data with our comments. It was a mess not to ride this morning…but I think we are happy and we made priorities.”
Maverick Viñales, Red Bull KTM Tech3, 6th: “I think having some hours to recover on Monday was a good thing because today I rode in a totally different way. I’m happy and pleased about that because the effort I made this weekend had a benefit for the shoulder. I had much more flow and was competitive in more sectors. We had different aero options to test so we have an idea where to go and this was one of the keys from today; from what I understand all four riders like what we found so it makes life easier that we are going in the same direction. I tried different chassis and swingarm but could not put the whole pack together for a good lap-time at the end of the day but…it was very positive.”
Brad Binder, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, 10th: “Really happy with the progress we were able to make because we squashed it into a half-day. The bike felt good and we tried a different seat unit that was more comfortable; the ergo was nice. We tried some more aero that gave me the feeling the bike was more balanced. The guys can go back and check the numbers and see where we go. A positive test.”
Enea Bastianini, Red Bull KTM Tech3, 17th: “We tried a new seat, which was quite different to what we had this year, and I think it has potential. I could only use it for two exits and the balance is not quite correct at the moment. The lap-time was the same as the old bike. A bit unlucky not to have more time on the track but we also tried some different fairings and we need to make a mix. I think our comments were the same for all the riders.”
Aki Ajo, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Team Manager: “We need to be happy about today because it did not start so well with the drying track. We had a decent afternoon and went through our test program. The homologation for the aero package means we had to start work quite early on this for the first races and we had some quite positive feedback from the options at hand. Next week we need to analyze everything and make our selection.”
Sebastian Risse, KTM Technical Director MotoGP: “Very productive but also very intense because we were cut short with track time. Luckily, we could use the rest of the day very well and our main focus were on items that we will have to homologate, so aerodynamics, and then on items we have to have ready for next season because it will be very tight between the next test and the first race. We had to decide on bigger hardware components and the options the riders had and we did this quite well. We know what we are looking for. We were able to make decisions that will prepare us well for Sepang.”
Photos from Ricardo Tormo Circuit can be found HERE
Valencia official test final times
1. Raul Fernandez (ESP) Aprilia 1:29.373
2. Marco Bezzecchi (ITA) Aprilia +0.027
3. Alex Marquez (ESP) Ducati +0.084
5. Pedro Acosta (ESP) Red Bull KTM Factory Racing +0.208
6. Maverick Viñales (ESP) Red Bull KTM Tech3 +0.247
9. Brad Binder (RSA) Red Bull KTM Factory Racing +0.338
17. Enea Bastianini (ITA) Red Bull KTM Tech3 +0.918
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Evangelia Sissis
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E: evangelia.sissis@ktm.com