KTM ace Acosta taken out in the Motegi Sprint: “Lost everything in three corners”

Pedro Acosta went into Saturday brimming with confidence. After finishing second in Friday’s qualifying, the KTM factory rider progressed straight through to Q2, where he secured third place on the grid behind Jorge Martin (Aprilia) and Marc Marquez (Ducati), thereby earning a spot on the front row.

Alex Márquez triggers a chain reaction: Acosta and ‘Diggia’ taken out

After just a few hundred metres, the race was already over for the 22-year-old. At the start, Acosta first lost third place to Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia), then his KTM team-mate Enea Bastianini overtook him on the inside and forced him onto the outside line. Heading into Turn 3, Alex Marquez (Gresini Ducati) attempted to brake past Fabio Di Giannantonio (VR46 Ducati) on the inside, but misjudged his line and crashed into the rear of the number 37 KTM.

Acosta, Di Giannantonio and Alex ‘Rambo’ Marquez ended up in the gravel trap. Two weeks after his crash whilst leading the Spielberg Sprint, Acosta was once again left without any points. ‘AM73’, who caused the accident, received a double long lap penalty for the Motegi race.

Pedro Acosta admits: a second win would have been too optimistic

“It was a good day for a podium,” said Acosta after the race, hoping to make up ground on Bezzecchi. But “we lost it all in three corners.” Given Marc Marquez’s pace, he hadn’t believed in a win anyway.

From the track side, he watched his rivals’ tyre problems unfold: “I didn’t expect everyone to struggle so much with the tyres.” For Sunday, he’s counting on the medium tyre, which he felt comfortable on during the second free practice session: “Now it’s a question mark for everyone. If everyone puts on the medium and everyone struggles, it’s the same for everyone.”

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Acosta remains fourth in the World Championship standings, but his deficit to leader Martin has grown to 79 points. He is now 32 points behind third-placed Bezzecchi, who scored just four points after finishing sixth. It was also a bitter pill for KTM to swallow: although Enea Bastianini finished in third place, he was classified fourth. Team-mate Brad Binder had a sprint to forget: finishing last after running wide and receiving a penalty.