Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Pedro Acosta charged to 2nd place at the fourteenth round of 2025 MotoGP as the series made a sun-kissed return to Hungary. The second Grand Prix in successive weekends saw more competitive potential for the Red Bull KTM teams across the three days at Balaton Park, and the second time the KTM RC16 earned a podium trophy in three fixtures. The KTM GP Academy had a strong day in front of 32,000 spectators as Red Bull KTM Tech3‘s Valentin Perrone was only 0.1 of a second from victory in Moto3™.
The chicanes and tight curves of the two-year-old 4km Balaton Park circuit gave MotoGP a compact and tricky outing for overtaking. The first Hungarian Grand Prix in 33 years activated the flat course close to Lake Balaton and race day took place in hot, sunny and breezy conditions. Advanced qualification grid slots were crucial for podium prospects due to the narrow nature of the layout. The Red Bull KTM quartet started the 26-lap chase from P4 for Enea Bastianini, P7 for Pedro Acosta (who had set some of the fastest laps of the weekend in practice), P12 for Pol Espargaro and P13 for Brad Binder who missed out on Q2 by the slimmest of margins.
Bastianini’s progress was blocked by a double long lap penalty. The Italian was hit during the first corner of the Saturday Sprint but then a damaged rear ride height device meant he made contact with another rider on the same lap: the second incident was the cause of the sanction. Acosta made a decent getaway as did Bastianini but the Italian slid out of the race on the first lap. Pedro kept a top four berth as Binder and Espargaro hovered on the fringe of the top ten.
The race settled into a rhythm and Acosta was focused and effective to pass two rivals at close quarters and move up to 2nd. The young Spaniard had a close view of the lead at one stage but eased his pace in relative comfort to cross the line as runner-up. The performance meant another Prosecco bottle for Pedro – his second of 2025 after initially breaching the top three in Czechia – and his seventh career rostrum appearance in less than two years of MotoGP. Brad rallied to 7th to match his classification from the Austrian Grand Prix the previous Sunday, even though he was dealing with a small rear end issue. Pol battled with double world champion Francesco Bagnaia and defeated the Italian for a well-deserved 8th; another personal best of 2025.
MotoGP will now break for a week ahead of back-to-back races in Catalunya and San Marino. The stint will precede the overseas stage of the calendar and Grands Prix in Japan, Indonesia, Australia and Malaysia. The paddock will form-up again on September 5-7.
Pedro Acosta, 2nd and 5th in the championship standings: “The weekend started super-nice on Friday but was then becoming more and more difficult. Anyway, the team managed to bring me a bike to improve on what we made in the Sprint. I want to thank all of them because they were working until 2am to build two new bikes, for this I’m super proud of them. Thanks also to all of KTM and Red Bull and all the guys that are trying to make the KTM project even better.”
Brad Binder, 7th and 11th in the championship standings: “All things considered I think it was a pretty good race. I didn’t have the best of starts and had a small issue with the rear end locking, which stayed with me for the whole way. It was really difficult to manage that in the braking zones. Despite that the overall package was working incredibly well and I think we could have done much better today. Still, 7th was a strong result. The last three races have probably been the best of the season so far. Things have started to roll and feel like normal. I think we are in for a good second half of the year. Here, I was too slow on Friday and then we missed out on Q2 and starting further back at this place was rough.”
Pol Espargaro, 8th: “I had so much fun. Yesterday I struggled because I could not find my rhythm and I was over-riding but today I saw myself behind Brad and could match the lap-times and I’m happy about that. I know Maverick is working hard and I think Barcelona will be a good track to match his set-up and his style and a good place to come back after his injury. We all hope to see him back on the bike.”
Enea Bastianini, DNF and 15th in the championship standings: “From this weekend we only save our speed as a positive. Results are the important thing, but they were not coming. Today it was my mistake, yesterday was from another rider. I’m not happy about the double long lap penalty because what happened to me on the first corner yesterday was not correct and my bike was not ready to compete, which I could not know after only a few turns. Two long laps destroyed my race. Anyway, we hope to keep the speed for Barcelona.”
Aki Ajo, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Team Manager: “A great day for us, especially after yesterday’s disappointment. We felt we had the speed and potential all weekend but we didn’t really get the chance to show it on Saturday. Today, fortunately, the GP was calmer and less accidents in the beginning. Of course, Pedro’s podium was a highlight and proved our performance and our progress. Both Brad and Pol had solid races and decent finishes. Enea couldn’t show that he had possibilities for podium pace as well. We’re happy with the work we’re doing and now looking ahead to Barcelona and Misano; tracks that we feel will suit our package very well.”
Results MotoGP Grand Prix of Hungary
1. Marc Marquez (ESP) Ducati 42:37.681
2. Pedro Acosta (ESP) Red Bull KTM Factory Racing +4.314
3. Marco Bezzecchi (ITA) Aprilia +7.488
7. Brad Binder (RSA) Red Bull KTM Factory Racing +12.902
8. Pol Espargaro (ESP) Red Bull KTM Tech3 +14.015
DNF. Enea Bastianini (ITA) Red Bull KTM Tech3
World Championship standings MotoGP
1. Marc Marquez (ESP) Ducati, 455 points
2. Alex Marquez (ESP) Ducati, 280
3. Francesco Bagnaia (ITA) Ducati, 228
5. Pedro Acosta (ESP) Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, 164
11. Brad Binder (RSA) Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, 91
14. Maverick Viñales (ESP) Red Bull KTM Tech3, 69
15. Enea Bastianini (ITA) Red Bull KTM Tech3, 63
KTM GP Academy
Red Bull KTM Ajo and the Red Bull KTM Tech3 teams pushed KTM RC4s into four slots among the first three rows of the Moto3 grid. Furthest forward was Valentin Perrone; the rookie again showing impressive progression with his speed and sitting P2 ahead of the 20-lap contest. The first race of the day initially grouped six riders into contention for the three trophies. Perrone took an active role and pushed hard through the chicanes and ‘stop-and-go’ sections of the track as did Moto3 championship favorite Jose Antonio Rueda.
The laps clicked down into the customary tense Moto3 finale. Perrone held P1 and tried to deflect Maximo Quiles through an exciting charge on the last lap. Valentin attempted a brave move to reseize the lead in the last corner and lost out on the win by just 0.018 at the line. The Argentine’s runner-up position still marked the second podium appearance of his maiden term. Rueda took 5th while Carpe was 9th and Roulstone 10th.
Rueda has a 69-point advantage in the championship. Red Bull KTM Ajo front the field by 125 in the Teams’ division while KTM has a distinct cushion in the Constructors series.
Valentin Perrone: “This is racing. Maximo was super-fast and I struggled in the beginning because of my tire choice but we knew from yesterday that it was the one I had to use. The pace was very fast, really amazing, and when he started to make a few mistakes and couldn’t maintain the rhythm I knew it was my turn to make my pace. I knew an overtake was coming on the last lap and thought ‘where can I get him back?’ it was the last chicane or the last corner. He didn’t exit that good from the chicane and I went. In the end almost nothing between us. Thanks to my team for their amazing job this weekend.”
Moto2 thrust Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Collin Veijer into play after the Dutch rookie achieved his best qualification standing of his debut campaign on Saturday. Veijer started from 5th place and the second row for the 22 laps on Sunday. He was running top five and clocked the fastest lap of the race in the formative stages. At the line Collin ranked P5 and was less than 1.5 seconds from the win.
Daniel Muñoz replaced the injured Deniz Öncü for the second time this year. The Spaniard dumped the clutch from P20 on the grid and then chased a top 20 for the majority of the distance: eventually taking 20th after sustaining a long lap penalty for infringing track limits.
Results Moto3 Grand Prix of Hungary
1. Maximo Quiles (ESP) CFMOTO Aspar Team 35:31.839
2. Valentin Perrone (ARG) Red Bull KTM Tech3 +0.018
3. David Muñoz (ESP), KTM +0.658
5. Jose Antonio Rueda (ESP), Red Bull KTM Ajo +1.362
9. Alvaro Carpe (ESP), Red Bull KTM Ajo +11.696
10. Jacob Roulstone (AUS), Red Bull KTM Tech3 +20.109
11. Dennis Foggia (ITA) CFMOTO Aspar Team +24.862
World Championship standings Moto3
1. Jose Antonio Rueda (ESP), Red Bull KTM Ajo 250 points
2. Angel Piqueras (ESP), KTM, 181
3. Maximo Quiles (ESP) CFMOTO Aspar Team, 164
5. Alvaro Carpe (ESP), Red Bull KTM Ajo, 146
7. Valentin Perrone (ARG) Red Bull KTM Tech3, 92
12. Dennis Foggia (ITA) CFMOTO Aspar Team, 81
15. Jacob Roulstone (AUS), Red Bull KTM Tech3, 42
Results Moto2 Grand Prix of Hungary
1. David Alonso (COL) CFMOTO Aspar Team 37:18.405
2. Diogo Moreira (BRA) +0.174
3. Manuel Gonzalez (ESP) +0.305
5. Collin Veijer (NED) Red Bull KTM Ajo +1.344
9. Daniel Holgado (ESP) CFMOTO Aspar Team +8.126
20. Daniel Muñoz (ESP) Red Bull KTM Ajo +26.552
World Championship standings Moto2
1. Manuel Gonzalez (ESP), 204 points
2. Aron Canet (ESP), 179
3. Diogo Moreira (BRA), 173
7. Deniz Öncü (TUR) Red Bull KTM Ajo, 100
11. Daniel Holgado (ESP) CFMOTO Aspar Team, 87
14. David Alonso (COL) CFMOTO Aspar Team, 68
19. Collin Veijer (NED) Red Bull KTM Ajo, 32