Japan MotoGP qualifying issue led to “new change” for Pedro Acosta in sprint

KTM’s Pedro Acosta says the technical issues he had in MotoGP Japanese Grand Prix qualifying meant he had to go with a bike change he hasn’t used since early-season.

The 21-year-old was rapid throughout Friday’s practice sessions at Motegi and came into Saturday as a serious pole threat to repeat his qualifying heroics from 12 months ago.

But an issue with his KTM at the start of the Q2 sessions left Pedro Acosta with little time to produce a lap time, though he still salvaged fourth.

He would go on to finish third in the sprint, but admits he was “struggling a bit to manage the rear tyre” across the 12-lap contest.

He blamed this on a set-up change that was “not easy to re-adapt” to made after his qualifying issues, while warning of a “restart” being needed for Sunday.

“After having this problem in qualifying, it was not easy to know which way to take,” he said.

“And in the end we took a solution that I was using a long time ago and it was not easy to re-adapt yourself to during the race.

“I was struggling a bit to manage the rear tyre with this new change.

“But anyway, we have to be happy.

“I was saying from when we came back from the summer break that I always wanted to be in the top five.

“And we’ve achieved another podium here in Japan.

“It’s true that I think we have potential for more, but we now have to restart the weekend and think of something for tomorrow.”

Despite his issues, Acosta’s fortunes far exceeded those of his KTM stablemates, with factory team-mate Brad Binder 12th after qualifying down in 18th.

Maverick Vinales, still suffering the aftereffects of a shoulder injury from the German Grand Prix, was 16th while Tech3 team-mate Enea Bastianini dropped out of the Motegi sprint with a technical issue.