Red Bull Ring 2026 - When Sharks Strike

Smile, you son of a bitch!*

When most people picture the landlocked mountains of Austria, the last thing they think of is shark attacks. So imagine our surprise when we saw the Shark gobble up the competition this week at Red Bull Ring, even devouring Jorge Martin whole.

The Shark in question is, of course, Pedro Acosta driving that giant hammerhead of a KTM. He dominated the training on Friday, screwed it up dramatically on Saturday during the sprint and then came back swinging today, earning KTM its first victory on a dry track in half a decade. But how did he do it?

Enter Mat and Peter, who've got some theories. See, one thing that makes sharks so special is that evolution doesn't seem to have changed them much this aeon. They found something that worked a long time ago, and it works still. Only in this case we're not talking about a Great White's scary sense of smell or rotating revolver teeth; we're looking at an oldschool racing bike which still allows you to go completely apeshit on the front when entering corners. Combine that fact with the nature of this track, and it might be accurate to state that this is the first time we've seen Acosta on equal machinery.

God knows we'd like to see it more often!

Meanwhile Jorge Martin seems to have taken over from Marquez in the tournament standing, bringing some seriously competitive heat to the next few races. Exciting times, no doubt.

Just watch out for blood in the water, or we might end up needing a bigger boat bike!

*If there was ever a time to quote from Spielberg, wouldn’t it be when racing here?

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