14th place, Q1: A heavy crash at Losail for KTM frontrunner Pedro Acosta

Pedro Acosta found himself in only 14th place on the timesheet at the end of Friday evening’s qualifying session at the Losail International Circuit . The Spaniard, riding the Red Bull-KTM, was thus only the third-fastest RC 16 rider, behind Enea Bastianini (6th) and Brad Binder (10th). In front of KTM racing boss Pit Beirer, Acosta was more than 1.1 seconds off the pace set by the Italian fastest-lap setter, Fabio Di Giannantonio (VR46-Ducati).

For the 22-year-old Spaniard, it was one of the most bitter Fridays of the current MotoGP season. “I’d already expected it to be a really tough weekend here,” said the fourth-placed rider in the World Championship, playing down the situation somewhat, before adding: “But anyway – something strange happened. At first, I had a good pace over five laps on the used medium rear tyre; the lap times were spot on.”

The “Shark from Mazarron” revealed: “The flying lap attempt with the ‘Medium’ at the front and ‘Soft’ at the rear was a complete disaster for me, though. I was quick on the used Medium rear tyre, but then really slow on the Soft. Something has to happen now.”

Was ist los? Acosta hatte zum Auftakt in der Wüste viele Fragen

Foto: Gold and Goose

Acosta went on to analyse: “The grip was lost in such a strange way, and the performance in terms of braking with the rear tyre was also very poor. Even with the combination of a Medium rear tyre for ten or twelve laps and a Soft front tyre, it didn’t work – it felt very strange.”

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In FP1, technical issues let Acosta down

Regarding his problems in the first free practice session – the works rider had been forced to park his KTM at the side of the track in the final minutes of FP1 – Acosta grumbled succinctly: “It was electronics issues.” Ahead of the races in the Qatari desert, Pedro Acosta trails third-placed Aprilia rider Marco Bezzecchi by 37 points in the World Championship standings. Not to mention Fabio Di Giannantonio. The Roman, who set the fastest time in qualifying at Losail, is still within striking distance of the top KTM rider, trailing by 30 points.