Pedro Acosta walked out of the Jerez post-race test on Monday in a markedly different mood to the one he had carried through a difficult Spanish Grand Prix weekend.
After ranking only sixth in the race and trailing the dominant Aprilias all weekend, the Red Bull KTM rider clocked a lap just 0.3 seconds off the pace to finish the one-day test fifth — the result, he said, of a clear technical step from his factory.
"Quite happy," Acosta said when asked to sum up the day. "Thankfully, we removed many question marks as to why I was not so competitive during the weekend. There's still many around, but I'm quite happy to be fast again after a difficult weekend."
The 21-year-old confirmed KTM had wheeled out a series of new parts aimed squarely at the RC16's structural weaknesses against Aprilia's pace-setting RS-GP and the Ducati GP25.
"It's true that KTM brought some interesting things to try," Acosta said. "Really positive, because it's touching our weakest points at the moment, which are top speed and also the stopping."
The Spaniard sounded measured rather than triumphant. The package needs to translate from the Jerez test, where conditions are typically representative, to a different layout under race pressure — and KTM has another test scheduled in Barcelona before the next round at Le Mans.
"It looks like it's working," Acosta said. "Let's see if when we decide to bring it to the track it's as good. Let's see if we can get it for Le Mans, or if we decide to wait for the next test in Barcelona. But it looks promising."
KTM's other significant test contributor was Dani Pedrosa, the brand's wildcard and development rider, who ran a new fairing on his RC16 that the factory teams will evaluate in the coming weeks.
The KTM gains were the headline story for the Austrian factory, but the day belonged to Trackhouse Racing. Ai Ogura set the day's fastest lap at 1:35.944 with teammate Raul Fernandez second, completing a satellite team one-two on the timing screens. Aprilia's wider package — including all four GP26 bikes running the rear aero first seen at Austin — locked out the top three positions overall.
Reigning championship leader Jorge Martin used the day to continue bedding in with his new Aprilia Racing factory machine, and was unequivocal about his progress.
"Everything was super positive," Martin said. "I'm really happy and pleased. From yesterday, I've already made a big, big improvement!"
For Yamaha, the test was about another step in a long climb. Jack Miller and Fabio Quartararo focused on a major new rear aero package, with Quartararo running a new black fairing on his M1.
"We're getting closer and closer," Miller said. "The gap to the front is getting closer. As they say, Rome wasn't built in a day."
Ducati spent the day with Marc Marquez evaluating a GP25 side fairing as part of the factory's ongoing comparison work between the current bike and last year's title-winning machine.
The next race at Le Mans on May 10 will reveal who turned a productive Monday into actual race pace — and whether KTM has the confidence to homologate Acosta's new aero parts in time, or hold them back for Barcelona's test.
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*Originally published on [Motorsports Global](https://motorsports.global/article/acosta-jerez-test-ktm-fairing-aero-le-mans-2026). Visit for full coverage.*
