Pedro Acosta (KTM), baffled after finishing 7th: “It can’t be down to that alone”

Pedro Acosta’s performance at KTM’s home race at the Red Bull Ring in Styria was impressive and prompted defending champion Marc Marquez to say that his future Ducati team-mate would now be the favourite for the upcoming races.

Just how quickly the balance of power can shift in today’s MotoGP became evident at Motegi. Pecco Bagnaia, who had been the clear winner in both races last year, was – once again – left with no chance and, as the second-best Ducati rider, finished only eighth, more than 20 seconds behind the winner.

Acosta qualified in third place in Japan, just a few tenths behind, but was knocked off the track by Alex Marquez (Gresini Ducati) in the first corner of the sprint race. In the main race, the Spaniard’s position slipped from the start: after the first lap, Pedro was fifth, but by the second he had dropped to eighth. Over the remaining 22 laps, he was involved in some thrilling battles with the Trackhouse Aprilia duo of Raul Fernandez and Ai Ogura, but was ultimately beaten by both and crossed the finish line in seventh place. It was a completely different story for his brand-mate Enea Bastianini from the Tech3 team, who was 14.7 seconds faster and missed out on third place by a mere 0.078 seconds.

Willkommen zum Rennen in Motegi

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Pedro Acosta

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Fans

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Pecco Bagnaia

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Jorge Martin

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Start des Rennens

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Jorge Martin

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Ai Ogura

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Fermin Aldeguer

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Marco Bezzecchi

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Pedro Acosta

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Jorge Martin und Marc Márquez

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Raúl Fernández

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Enea Bastianini

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Ogura und Fernández

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Luca Marini

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Marc Márquez gewinnt das Rennen

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Sieger Marc Márquez

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Jorge Martin, Marc Márquez, Marco Bezzecchi

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Sieger Marc Márquez

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Willkommen zum Rennen in Motegi

© Gold & Goose

Pedro Acosta wonders what went wrong

“We didn’t get the bike right for these tyres; I found braking very difficult,” said Acosta, summing up his Grand Prix. “It was also lacking in acceleration, but seventh place isn’t a disaster. It makes me happy to see that another KTM was quite fast and took fourth place. We need to analyse the data so we can see what we got wrong.”

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The 22-year-old attributed his ability to compete with the Aprilia duo at times not to his own strength, but to their weakness. Because when his rear tyre suffered its next drop-off, he was left behind. “It was all very strange,” said Acosta, who remains fourth in the World Championship standings. “I don’t think it was just down to the tyres. That doesn’t explain to me why I was so fast last year and so slow now. It must be something else – we don’t know exactly what yet. I found it hard to overtake, which isn’t normal for me. I only managed to get past Raul Fernandez once, then Ogura overtook me again. At least the fans had something to enjoy.”