Pedro Acosta has responded to comments made by KTM CEO Gottfried Neumeister, who claimed that the Spaniard was joining Ducati due to his desire to beat Marc Marquez on the same machinery.
Last month, Neumeister said that he tried to keep Acosta within KTM’s stable for MotoGP’s era, but found that even money and the promise of a competitive bike wasn’t enough to convince him to stay put.
“It is not a secret that I tried personally to convince him to stay but it was very [tough],” Neumeister had said.
“I still have goosebumps because he told me, ‘Please, Gottfried, it is not about a million more or less’. We have seen riders who are sitting on the base package at the beginning of the season, and just signing with other guys for money.
“This, for me, is not racing spirit. He simply said in Spanish, ‘Even if you have a better bike with the 850cc and I am winning on this one, I want to beat Marc with the same weapon’.”
During the Indonesian GP weekend, Motorsport.com asked Acosta whether it could be inferred from that private conversation shared by Neumeister that beating Marquez on the same bike was a goal for him – a kind of obsession.
“The problem is that I never negotiated with KTM,” Acosta explained. “They sent me a contract, I told them no. They came to try to convince me, and I told them that there was no way in the world I would change my mind, because when I wanted to leave here last year, they threw it in my face that I was not fulfilling my contract.
Gottfried Neumeister and Pedro Acosta
“Then I told them that, under no circumstances, not even for all the money in the world, was I going to put myself in the same situation I was in at that time again. They should forget about it.”
“They made me a counteroffer, but we did not negotiate. I think this was the decision I have given the least thought to in my life,” he said, referring to the fact that he had no doubts about the step he took when he committed to Ducati last December to race with its factory squad in 2027.
Acosta, who secured KTM’s first MotoGP win in four years at the Austrian Grand Prix last week, clarified the reason behind his decision to join Ducati and team up with Marquez.
“The only goal Albert Valera, my manager, and I had was to get me on the most competitive bike and into the most competitive team of the last 10 years, and I say 10 [years] just to give a number,” the Spaniard said.
“It’s not about beating Marc. It’s true that the only reason I wanted to go with Marc was that I’m not going to have any more opportunities to learn from the best rider in history, or the best rider of the last 15 years.
“That’s the only thing I wanted to be clear about when joining Marc. Because, even if I lose, being with him will benefit me in my career in the long term more than I will lose if he beats me.”
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