Strong start to the Sepang round for KTM: Pedro Acosta puzzled by his speed

Pedro Acosta finished fourth, Enea Bastianini seventh despite a crash, and Maverick Viñales, in eighth place, made it straight into Q2 for the first time since the Sachsenring in July 2025: the KTM team can be satisfied with Friday’s practice session in Malaysia. Only Ducati managed to get one more bike into Q2 than the Mattighofen-based team, with four machines on the Sepang Circuit.

“It’s true that we’re not far behind Marc Márquez – just 0.4 seconds,” said Acosta. “I’m delighted for KTM that Maverick and Enea have managed to take a step forward. Maverick has struggled a lot since his injury, and now he was also very quick when riding on his own. My lap time wasn’t bad, but the feeling wasn’t right. I don’t have a good feel for the front tyre, and the cornering and braking points aren’t quite right either. We need to analyse the data carefully, including Maverick’s. I’m losing too much, particularly under braking. On the other hand, our pace is unexpectedly good; if I don’t have to push the bike too hard, as I do when chasing lap times, it works a bit better.”

Pedro Acosta on Sepang: “Whole chunks of tarmac are breaking off”

Numerous riders crashed on Friday, which, according to Acosta, is also down to the track surface. “The tarmac gets worse every year; in some places, whole chunks and stones are breaking away,” explained the Red Bull rider from Spain. “If you hit a patch like that, the front wheel can easily slip out from under you.” In Turn 15, Pedro managed to avoid a crash only through sheer skill. “That was a close call,” he agreed. “I’d already had problems with the front wheel in FP1 and assumed it would slip out from under me sooner or later. Malaysia isn’t an easy track for me; I usually need a bit of time here to get up to speed. This time, however, I was going faster than I did in qualifying last year. So I’m not slow. Now I just need to find a better feel for the bike and a bit more consistency.”

Ahead of the races in Malaysia, Acosta sits fourth in the World Championship standings, 52 points behind the Aprilia works rider Marco Bezzecchi, who is ahead of him. He is already 102 and 92 points behind the leaders, Marc Marquez (Ducati) and Jorge Martin (Aprilia), respectively, and under normal circumstances he will not be able to catch up with them.

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31.10.2026 - 01:35