Pedro Acosta explains why KTM boss Pit Beirer called an important meeting

Pedro Acosta was proud to have cooled his podium ambitions and secured fourth place in Sunday’s Austrian MotoGP at the Red Bull Ring.

The Spaniard, who handed KTM a home Sprint rostrum on Saturday, briefly moved into third after passing Francesco Bagnaia on lap 18 of 28.

But when Gresini Ducati rookie Fermin Aldeguer snatched the position from him, Acosta resisted the temptation to over-ride and brought his RC16 home safely.

“I have to be honest, if today was a normal day in the life of Pedro Acosta, I would send the bike into the gravel,” he smiled.

“Because I would fight for the podium with everything I have.

“But sometimes you have to think that when you look up the word ‘championship’ in the dictionary, it's more than one race.

“Now we have the same points as the top five… We are looking for this consistency and trying to be competitive at every track.

“We came from a really different track, Brno, to here, and I was competitive in both. So maybe this new riding style helps.”

Pedro Acosta reveals meeting with Pit Beirer

That smoother approach is far from instinctive for Acosta, whose instinct is to attack aggressively on the brakes.

“Your natural style is something you can't hide. But I'm really trying super hard,” he admitted.

“After Brno, we made a meeting with Pit [Beirer] and it was like to try to cool down everything and restart.

“We are making good races since Assen, more or less. We need to keep going in this direction, that looks like it's working.”

Patience has been key to Acosta scoring 45 points from the last two rounds, more than he managed in the opening six events combined.

“When something is not in your hands, you cannot push harder and harder,” he said of Beirer’s advice.

“Because sometimes, like Sachsenring, you crash and lose more than you could gain even if you pushed less.

“Maybe Sachsenring was a top five again, and instead I scored one point in the Sprint and zero in the main race.

“Sometimes being more calm, more positive – it's true that I was more positive already since a talk with Aki [Ajo].

“Like I said many times, I have not had a bad season until this one. 

"And this year, I have to say, I'm learning more than in the last four years.

“For sure, I’m giving more from myself than even when I won the championship in Moto2.”

The double world champion heads to this weekend’s Balaton Park round tied with VR46 Ducati riders Franco Morbidelli and Fabio di Giannantonio for fifth in the MotoGP standings.