Pedro Acosta says he has gone back to more of a 2024-spec KTM MotoGP bike and immediately felt the benefits, in a move that comes as a damning indictment on the factory's 2025 developments.
Acosta, like his fellow KTM riders, was hamstrung by ongoing vibration issues during the sprint at the Qatar Grand Prix, and both he and Tech3 rider Maverick Vinales tumbled out of the points to 11th and 10th respectively while trying to nurse their disintegrating soft rear tyres to the end.
“KTM was convinced to do that,” he said of the tyre selection, “for this we went for that. We can say 'ah OK we made the wrong choice' but the problems would've been there with the medium or with the soft.
“We took the decision that we think was the correct one. It was wrong and that's it. But we're having a lot of chatter, and for this it's difficult to manage.”
However, while those vibration issues remain a head-scratcher, Acosta's other big headache of 2025 - a lack of consistent braking performance from the RC16 - has prompted a radical move towards an earlier specification.
He had foreshadowed that move already on Friday, talking of a need to take a step back and verify things - making the analogy that you could not build a stable house on an unstable foundation.
And on Saturday, Acosta said: “I am riding with the bike of last year. And in the brakings where I was having the problems it's much better, much much better - the problems that I was having in Austin are already gone.
"Braking was unbelievably good. Like when I first jumped on the bike [as a rookie]. It was unbelievably good.
"At the end, what is clear for me now, every time I jump to last year's bike I am faster. I don't have problems in the brakes, I don't have to risk crashing every braking. Now it's clear for this. That's it."
Acosta will not have returned to last year's engine - something that is forbidden by strict homologation rules - but KTM isn't thought to have made big changes in that department anyway. Front aero, likewise, is governed by homologation rules - but the rest of the bike can be reverted in spec within the rules.
That Acosta isn't convinced by any of the developments for 2025 will come as a bitter blow to KTM, which felt it had significantly invested in a better package for this year - despite its financial troubles.
In the meantime, the vibration remains a fundamental limitation.
“I don't understand. Different settings, four different bikes at the end of the day. I cannot say where it's coming from," Acosta said.
“Now it's in the hands of the factory, they need to analyse, make hundreds of analyses, many many things, PDFs, Powerpoints, whatever - then have an answer. I don't have an answer, a logical answer, in my head.”
Worryingly for KTM, this all comes amid a fresh report - from Speedweek.com - that Honda, which didn't have a good day of its own, is willing to make a big-money offer to lure Acosta over as soon as possible.
“It's not easy to ride like this, and it's not easy to compete like this," Acosta said. "But at the end KTM has had many bad moments - I remember 2014-15-16 in Moto3, it was not easy for them. I hope that we [at KTM] can make the flip.”
