Pedro Acosta wins “cool” KTM “Red Bull Rookies” battle

Saturday’s Catalan MotoGP Sprint delivered a thrilling three-way KTM fight for fourth place, with Pedro Acosta beating Enea Bastianini and Brad Binder by just 0.075s.

“At one point Brad passed me and then Enea!” Acosta said. “But it was fun to see people online comparing us to the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup!”

Nevertheless, Acosta, who had briefly fought Marc Marquez and Fabio Quartararo early on, was frustrated by his "strange" lack of rear grip.

“My start was OK but then I felt that the rear tyre did not have a lot of grip," he said.

“I tried to warm it up but the grip I’d had in the rest of the sessions was not there. Anyway, P4 again and we are constantly in the top five and not making mistakes. We have to keep going in this way.”

Bastianini and Binder join the fight

Tech3 rider Bastianini, who finished sandwiched between the factory KTMs, said:

“I suffered a bit in the first laps because with the full tank I cannot push like I want but then my pace improved. I watched ‘the movie’ from behind for a few laps! And then decided to join it.”

Binder, who climbed from 11th on the grid to be part of the battle, added:

“We had a pretty eventful fight out there! I thought we would have a bit more pace to go with the leaders but all three of us were at the same speed and it made for a cool fight.”

While the KTM trio lit up the closing stages of the Sprint, attention now shifts to tyre strategy for the full-length grand prix.

Michelin has recommended the medium rear for Sunday, but with Bastianini (seventh) the only RC16 rider in the top ten on the medium in warm-up, soft of the KTMs could be tempted to gamble on the soft.

Meanwhile, the injured Maverick Vinales brought his RC16 home in 17th during the Sprint.

"Today was a bit easier than yesterday, probably because I am less tense on the bike. I lose too much on the left side. As much as I have the mentality that this weekend is part of the recovery, I just want to push! 

"I need to understand that my body has arrived to a limit and I need to be intelligent and listen to it. Tomorrow we’ll evaluate after the warm-up…but I feel I can do the full race, so we’ll try it.”