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KTM’s MotoGP attack appears better balanced heading into 2026, with Brad Binder and Maverick Vinales in particular looking far closer to their true potential.
The Austrian factory had grown overly reliant on Pedro Acosta last season, who scored almost double the points of the next-best RC16 rider in the standings. Although the Spaniard wasn’t arguably the fastest KTM rider at the start of the 2025 season after moving to the factory team, he was clearly leading the charge by the end of the campaign.
This imbalance was a concern for KTM, which had recruited Vinales and Enea Bastianini at Tech3 to boost its prospects in MotoGP.
While Acosta is still likely to remain the main reference in 2026, early evidence from pre-season testing suggests that the gap within the camp may be narrowing.
KTM stalwart Binder, for instance, enjoyed a strong end to pre-season testing at Buriram last weekend, with a late set-up breakthrough transforming his fortunes, making him “so much quicker than he has ever gone in a long time”. It was a drastic change for the South African after his winless campaign in MotoGP last year.
The Binder’s speed caught the attention of Acosta himself, who said: “Now I'm comparing myself a lot with Brad. It looks like he found extra confidence that maybe he lost last year.
“‘Holy f**k, how is he riding now, you know?’ I still need to learn about him. Now it's the closest KTM at the moment.
“I was watching his data. Everything is important to try to see if somebody is faster than you.
“But we were making very different things during the test. It's also difficult to compare tyre life and all these things.”
Maverick Vinales, Red Bull KTM Tech 3
Speaking at Buriram on the eve of the Thailand Grand Prix, Binder explained how he managed to turn around his performance in testing.
“The biggest difference at the end of the test was we just found a balance that I could stop better, get the bike stopped before releasing the brakes and rolling,” he said.
“It gave me a little bit more rear contact and rear grip on the throttle too. So, in general, I feel like we made a small step in all areas.
“Everything came easier because the limit got pushed a bit further.”
Another key piece of the puzzle is Vinales, who has now fully recovered from the Sachsenring injury that disrupted his 2025 campaign. Vinales’ impressive early adaptation to the RC16 last year was extremely vital for KTM’s engineers at a time the marque was battling with financial issues, and served as proof that it was heading in the right direction with the bike.
Now, the 10-time grand prix winner feels he can demonstrate the same form and potentially go even faster this year.
“Riding the bike, I'm on that [early 2025] level, but I want to be better,” he said. “For me, last year's level was not enough, I have to be a little bit better. Now I have more experience with the bike, also the team, my crew chief, so I think we can find a way to be quicker than last year.”
While Binder and Vinales appear more optimistic about their 2026 prospects, Bastianini’s situation is a bit more nuanced.
The former Ducati rider faced his own set of issues last year, often leaving him on the back foot on Fridays. While he would eventually recover over the race weekend, his poor starting point always left him with a target to chase.
While he acknowledged there had been some progress in 2026, testing at Buriram was more of a mixed bag for him.
“I think we have resolved some problems on turning. On braking, it's more or less the same, but you can feel a bit more of what's happening on the tyre.”
He added: “Compared to last year, the feeling is a bit better. I talked a lot with the factory, trying to do something for me, because compared to the other riders, my style is a bit different, to be honest.
“The bike can be fast, because Pedro was very competitive during the test; especially on the time attack, he has been fast.
“But, well, my riding style is different and I need something different. I think in Malaysia, from the start, we were on a good line. Here [in Buriram] has been a bit different, and I have suffered from the first lap.
“I tried to solve some problems, checking the electronics, checking also my set-up, we modified something. But in the end, I think nothing worked well.
“Just at the end, with the new chassis, I've improved a bit. And, well, I'm confident to do a great weekend now.”
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