Acosta stunned the Grand Prix paddock in 2021 after making a successful start to his career in his second race in which he came out of the pit lane to win the Doha Grand Prix.
The 17-year-old has won five races for the Ajo KTM team in 2021 and is currently leading the Moto3 championship with 41 points.
Acosta has been linked with a move into Moto2 for some time for its second season of Grand Prix racing next year, though that move seems more likely when KTM announced the signing of Remy Gardner and Raul Fernandez for Tech3 in MotoGP for 2022 .
Motorsport.com assumes that Acosta has now signed directly with KTM for the next three years and will join Ajo’s team in Moto2 in 2022 before moving up to MotoGP by 2024.
An official announcement from KTM is expected in the coming days.
Sources familiar with Acosta’s contract say there is no clause in it that allows the rider to move into MotoGP before 2024, thus taking the pressure off their shoulders as they adjust to Moto2.
Pedro Acosta, Red Bull KTM garlic
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Committing a Moto3 rider to a MotoGP contract spanning several years is not unprecedented as Yamaha signed Jorge Lorenzo two years before his MotoGP debut in 2008.
Brad Binder and Miguel Oliveira will continue to lead KTM’s MotoGP factory team in 2022, with the former negotiating a new contract earlier this year that will run him through the end of 2024.
At Tech3, the current Ajo teammates and championship leaders Gardner and Fernandez will compete in the entire KTM line-up for 2022 – with the contract running from the latter until the end of 2023.
However, Fernandez is known to be dissatisfied with the deal and has previously attempted to secure a move to Petronas SRT.
In Moto2, Acosta is expected to be supported by current Marc VDS rider Augusto Fernandez (who has no relationship with the outgoing Raul Fernandez).