Less than 24 hours after the San Marino and the Rimini Riviera Grand Prix closed the sixteenth round of 2025 MotoGP, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing and Red Bull KTM Tech3 were back laying rubber at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli for the third one-day IRTA test of the year.
Sunshine and decent summer temperatures continued to beat down on the Italian asphalt near Riccione. The 91,000 Sunday crowds were gone but the speed remained. The Red Bull KTM race crews counted on the presence of MotoGP Hall of Famer Dani Pedrosa for extra input as the Grand Prix project worked on solutions and fixes for Misano and for the six Grands Prix still to come this season.
The high-grip nature of the tarmac in Misano and some ideas for modifications that couldn’t be tried in the hectic nature of a GP schedule were on the job list. Pedro Acosta, Brad Binder and Enea Bastianini as well as Maverick Viñales turned almost 400 laps as they also tried chassis configurations and other details. Acosta ended the day with the fastest lap-time; three tenths of a second from the lap record. Viñales, Binder and Bastianini registered the 10th, 11th and 13th quickest efforts respectively during their track stints.
The teams ended the day by packing freight in preparation for the Japanese Grand Prix in less than two weeks’ time. From Motegi the championship will travel to Mandalika in Indonesia, then to Phillip Island in Australia and onwards to Sepang in Malaysia to complete the overseas swing by the end of October.
Pedro Acosta, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, 1st: “Quite nice to come back after yesterday to show some speed. I wanted to improve my best set-up to be faster in the fast corners because we will have these sectors in Japan, Indonesia and Phillip Island and T2 in Malaysia. It was interesting how we were able to make improvements. We still have many good opportunities left this season and we will have time after Valencia to think about next year. A good day.”
Maverick Viñales, Red Bull KTM Tech3, 10th: “Today was about making laps and putting stress on the shoulder, to see how it will feel in the next days. I still cannot push the bike 100% so there was not much sense to try things, even if the track conditions feel fantastic. Now I need to train as much as I can, lift weights and build muscle to be more ready for Japan.”
Brad Binder, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, 11th: “Today was pretty solid. We tried some different frames and swingarms and found some potential for sure, and managed to make the bike more stable especially in the fast stuff. The feeling was quite a bit better even if I didn’t quite get the speed in T3. I think we made a pretty good step. I’m not sure on the timeline for everything but I think there is something we can try in Japan. Let’s see.”
Enea Bastianini, Red Bull KTM Tech3, 13th: “I tested some small things to help with the issues we were having at the weekend and they were not so bad. There were not any big changes, and the conditions today were better for us: a little less grip and wind. For the moment I’m happy about the benefits.”
Aki Ajo, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Team Manager: “It’s nice that we were able to continue work here in Misano, even if we know that the day after a Grand Prix the grip is usually very good and we have to take that into consideration for the information and the results. Busy day. We had five riders on track, so it was important to plan well and share the workload. We had riders working on different things – chassis parts and electronics - but it was productive and development continues all the time. We had some new items but the main focus was on refinement for the rest of the season.”
Sebastian Risse, KTM Technical Director MotoGP: “A very intense test today. We still had the same issues today as we did through the weekend and that meant we could focus on the fixes. We were able to work on the areas that we wanted during the GP and also with tools that were not ready to race yet. We worked well with different riders and allocations. We found some improvements and we learned a lot and this will help us for 2026, especially at this special track.”
Misano official test final times
1. Pedro Acosta (ESP) Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 1:30.374
2. Raul Fernandez (ESP) Aprilia +0.387
3. Franco Morbidelli (ITA) Ducati +0.392
10. Maverick Viñales (ESP) Red Bull KTM Tech3 +0.843
11. Brad Binder (RSA) Red Bull KTM Factory Racing +0.943
13. Enea Bastianini (ITA) Red Bull KTM Tech3 +1.152
21. Dani Pedrosa (ESP) Red Bull KTM Factory Racing +1.857
