KTM had a difficult run at the Japanese Grand Prix in Motegi, with its best rider finishing only 11th. It was the first time this season that none of its riders made the top 10 in a Sunday race, making it hard for their chance of beating Aprilia to second place in the constructors’ championship.

The team’s main hope, Pedro Acosta, briefly fought for the lead in the early laps but soon began to struggle. After holding second place behind Francesco Bagnaia, Acosta’s pace dropped quickly due to tyre problems. He fell through the field, eventually running wide at Turn 1 and finishing down in 17th place.

Acosta admitted he wasn’t sure what went wrong, but suspected that the high temperature and softer tyres played a role. “We all struggled in the same way, so we need to look at the data and understand the problem,” he said after the race to Crash.net. “I was fast in qualifying and in the sprint, but in the main race it was impossible to recover.”

The weekend had started better for Acosta, who qualified fourth and finished third in the sprint, the only KTM rider to score points. His teammates, Brad Binder, Enea Bastianini and Maverick Vinales, all finished down the order.

Binder explained that severe chatter made his race almost unrideable. “I got a really good start and I was struggling with chatter from the beginning. And when I got to about lap 12, it exploded. It started going crazy and at every single left-hand corner, I had massive vibrations until I lifted the bike up straight,” he told Crash.net.

KTM had shown promise earlier in the summer, with podiums following a major aero update and had been close to Aprilia in the standings. But poor weekends in Misano and now Japan have left the Austrian manufacturer 26 points behind.

Vinales, still recovering from a shoulder injury, also struggled for pace and grip. “On paper, Motegi should have been good for us, but it was one of the slowest weekends we’ve had,” he admitted to Autosport.

Bastianini, who was strong earlier in the year and even scored a podium, was also confused. “Since Misano, it feels like something has changed. The acceleration and speed are not the same. We need to find the performance again,” he told journalists Autosport

For KTM, the weekend at Motegi was a reminder that progress in MotoGP is never straightforward. So with few races remaining, the fight for second in the constructors’ standings will be tough.