Maverick Vinales is lined up to replace Pedro Acosta in the factory KTM team in 2027. This comes as Acosta is close to moving to Ducati.
Albert Valera, Acosta’s manager has hinted that he will leave KTM In a recent interview and it seems the team is now resigned to that outcome.
That came out on Monday KTM will turn to Vinales to fill Acosta’s void. Next year. Top Gun showed promise in his first season in the RC16 before suffering a serious shoulder injury at the German GP.
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Vinales was taking the seat of Brad Binder In the year If he stays well for 2026, but for the time being, he will stay with Enya Bastianini in the satellite team Tech3.
KTM is open to replacing Brad Binder with ‘young talent’ in 2027.
Motorsport E.S Repeat that KTM already knew about Acosta’s plans. They had hoped he would sign a two-year extension, but now he is close to ‘finalising’ his deal with Ducati.
Last October KTM He told Vinales he would be a factory rider in 2027. They wanted him to be Acosta’s teammate, but now he is instead.
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On the face of it, this is good news for the downtrodden. binding. The report states that Binder now has an ‘option’ to stay put.
However, KTM are saying the ‘door is open’ to sign ‘young talent’ instead. Attachment and Vinyls (currently 30 and 31 respectively) may be the oldest partnership in MotoGP.
Why is KTM signing Maverick Vinales even though he won’t be around for long?
Vinales missed 14 of 44 races last season, contributing to a low points tally (72). This was good enough for only 18th in the championship.
But KTM was extremely encouraged by its early injury results. Vinales was disqualified from the Qatar stage for a controversial tire pressure penalty, but secured top-five finishes in Jerez, France and the Netherlands.
After the race in Assen – his last full qualifying weekend – he was 10th in the championship, 22 points ahead of long-serving KTM rider Binder.
Vinales is one of the most decorated riders on the MotoGP grid. Only Marc Marquez, Francesco Bagnaia and Fabio Quatararo can claim 10 premier-class victories, and he is the only rider in the modern era to have won with three different manufacturers.
He also recorded 35 career hits, which tied for the top 20 all-time.
