KTM star Pedro Acosta (6th) is annoyed: “The crash cost me time!”

The MotoGP World Championship witnessed a minor sensation on Friday afternoon at Misano, as Pol Espargaro, riding the Tech3 team’s KTM, sensationally secured ninth place and a direct spot in Q2. This meant that the performance of KTM’s leading rider, Pedro Acosta, was almost somewhat overshadowed. The Spaniard also made it through to Saturday’s second qualifying session without any problems, finishing sixth.

Acosta, who briefly led the session towards the end, was ultimately 0.344 seconds off the fastest time set by Aprilia star Marco Bezzecchi. “The KTM isn’t performing brilliantly here, but it’s not terrible either,” Acosta noted dryly. “The crash this morning cost us a bit of time. But I’m quite happy; the pace was actually quite good – as was the feel with the tyres. I didn’t manage a really good lap, though – that’s just not our strong point. P6 isn’t that far off the front. 1:30.4 mins was my qualifying time from 2025.”

Problems with the electronics

Pedro then revealed the reason behind his mistake in FP1 that morning: “I had a few problems; it was down to the electronics. It came as a surprise because I wasn’t really pushing flat out on that one lap, so I was taken aback. I’ve also had crashes in practice sessions at recent race weekends, but then I haven’t had such disastrous races on Sunday.”

Looking ahead to Saturday and Sunday’s races, Pedro said: “I need to try the medium tyre tomorrow. Alex Márquez, for example, has set some really good times on it, and Bezzecchi clocked a 1:30.9 on it. So we should try this tyre on Saturday as well. But the soft tyre wouldn’t be a bad option either.”

Pedro Acosta then went on to discuss the changes made to his RC16 for Misano: “For example, in Aragon we rode with a very short bike, whereas here the bike was very long. Normally, I’m not the sort of rider who makes such radical changes between races. But the bike has improved; the plan seems to have worked.”

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12.09.2026 - 08:35