Pedro Acosta to join Ducati Lenovo Team in 2027

MotoGP’s musical chairs for the 2027 season is underway, with one of the first notable moves being that of Pedro Acosta. Known as ‘El Tiburón’ (The Shark), Acosta will leave Red Bull KTM Factory Racing at the end of 2026 for a two-year contract with the Ducati Lenovo Team alongside Marc Marquez. The 22-year-old from Mazarrón, Spain, will replace two-time MotoGP World Champion, Pecco Bagnaia, who’s moving to Aprilia Racing next season.

Despite being widely regarded as one of the best young talents in MotoGP, Acosta has yet to record a win in his two and a half years in the premier class. Much of that can be put down the KTM RC16, which has been largely uncompetitive against Ducati’s Desmosedici and the Aprilia RS-GP. Despite this disadvantage, Acosta had, at time of writing, achieved a Sprint win and three Grand Prix podiums this season, along with five podiums in both the 2024 and 2025 seasons. Acosta was also the top-placed KTM rider last season (fourth) and is on track to do the same again this year.

Acosta’s path to the premier class started after success in the Spanish CEV Moto3 Junior World Championship and Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup, winning the latter in 2020. Joining the Moto3 World Championship in 2021 with Red Bull KTM Ajo, Acosta won the championship on debut. He then moved up to Moto2 in 2022 with the same team. Fifth in his rookie season in Moto2, Acosta would win the intermediate class championship in 2023.

For 2024, Acosta made his MotoGP debut on KTM’s RC16 for the Red Bull GasGas Tech3 team. Highlights from that rookie year included five GP and three Sprint podiums, plus the Rookie of the Year award. Elevated to the factory Red Bull KTM team for 2025, Acosta secured five more GP podiums, along with seven Sprint podiums; most coming in the second half of the season.

This year, Acosta achieved his first Sprint win in the opening round of, and has followed that with two Sprint and two GP podiums, up until this year’s Dutch GP.

“Pedro represents the ideal candidate for the future of the Ducati Lenovo Team,” said Luigi Dall'Igna, General Manager of Ducati Corse. “After Marc's confirmation, we wanted to add a young and fast rider to the Desmosedici GP development project.

“Pedro, in addition to being an undisputed talent, has demonstrated extraordinary precocity. In just under six years in the championship, he has won two titles in the lower classes and achieved truly convincing performances in MotoGP.

“His arrival in the Team will be a stimulus for everyone; he will help us grow, and we will support him on the path to full maturity as a rider.

“I am confident that, with the encouragement of our Team and given the right amount of time, his contribution, for sure, will ensure a further step forward in terms of performance and goals”.