World Championship lead lost, two defeats: Marc Marquez calls Pedro Acosta the ‘favourite’

Ahead of the MotoGP races in Austria, the championship lead was tied, with Marc Marquez and Jorge Martin both on 274 points. In Saturday’s sprint race, Martín reclaimed the championship lead with his victory (following Acosta’s crash) and thus went into the Grand Prix three points ahead of Márquez, who finished second.

In Sunday’s main race, Acosta was in a class of his own, just as he had been on Saturday; this time, the 23-year-old also made it to the finish line and celebrated his first victory in the premier class of the World Championship at his 56th attempt. Whilst Martin comfortably took second place behind him and bagged a further 20 points, Marc Marquez struggled throughout the race and crossed the line in fifth place, 6.3 seconds behind his compatriot.

Second in the sprint, fifth in the Grand Prix: the weekend at the Grüne Mark was no disaster for Marc Marquez. “I had the pace for the podium,” emphasised the seven-time MotoGP champion. “My problem was that I had major difficulties with the front brake at the start. The bite point and braking pressure were constantly varying. That’s why I had to take a wide line through Turn 1 at one point. I thought about pulling out, but then the brake suddenly started working again. I managed to make up a few places, but it was too late. The positive thing is that you can see all of this in the data – the team can analyse it and find solutions to the problem.”

The latest World Championship standings: Martin 306 points, Marc Marquez 294, Bezzecchi 264 and Acosta 234. “MM93” reiterated the assessment he made ahead of the Austrian weekend: “The top four are in contention for the championship. Look at Pedro: at Silverstone, KTM opened up the engines and have had decent power ever since; they’re ready.”

Surprisingly, Marquez cited his “motorbike and team” as his greatest strength in the title race, rather than his talent or experience. And as for the upcoming races at Motegi in Japan, the 33-year-old described his future team-mate Acosta as the “favourite”. He is convinced: “It’s going to be a close fight between the top four over the last seven race weekends.”

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Acosta had explained his move from KTM to Ducati at the end of this season to Managing Director Gottfried Neumeister by saying he wanted to beat his compatriot Marquez on equal terms. The defending champion sees no merit in such thinking: “I’m at a different stage in my career; that’s not my battle.”