Pedro Acosta holds his ground in epic Indonesian battle: “I’m becoming a better rider”

With rookie race winner Fermin Aldeguer disappearing into the distance, a fierce multi-rider fight for second lit up Sunday’s Indonesian MotoGP.

Pedro Acosta produced a heroic defence to secure the runner-up spot, despite only setting the seventh-fastest lap of the race.

The Red Bull KTM rider launched from fifth to first on the opening lap, which saw Sprint winner Marco Bezzecchi and Marc Marquez collide in a high-speed crash at Turn 7.

Aldeguer took control on lap 7 and soon broke clear, while Acosta spent the remaining 20 laps fending off a pack of rivals.

“We made exactly what we planned: A good start and tried to be first, or close to first, in the initial part of the race,” said Acosta.

“But it was quite difficult for us here because it was not an option to use the same [soft] front tyre as the rest. We have to use harder tyres.

“Also to manage the front tyre pressure was not easy because if I was behind another rider, it was too high. If I was alone, it was too low.”

After briefly slipping to fourth, Acosta fought back to reclaim second place with three laps remaining, crossing the line at the head of an eight-rider train to split the Gresini Ducatis of Aldeguer and Alex Marquez.

“It’s not easy to battle with bikes that are turning more than you and can use a softer front tyre,” Acosta said.

“But we know where the weakest points of our bike are and where we can be better. For this, we will try to learn from these things.

“We know that something is happening in the front part of the bike because we are not turning.

“We are not having any help from the front. Many of the crashes we have are because we don’t have any feedback for this. But KTM for sure is working on it.”

Without a podium during the opening eleven rounds, the Spaniard has been on the rostrum six times in the last seven events (including Sprints) and inside the top five in every race barring Japan.

“I’ve also become a better rider since the beginning of the year, that was quite tough.

“Now I’m slightly more mature. I’m making better races overall and not making the ‘rookie’ mistakes like at the beginning of the season.

“Since the summer break, we are more or less really constant in the top five. We have to try to make this next small step. We are getting closer. We are trying to fight for the podium every weekend.

“We have to be happy because after the [crash in the] race yesterday and all the pain that I have in the shoulder, it was not easy.”

Acosta now holds fifth place in the world championship, ahead of the VR46 Ducatis of Franco Morbidelli and Fabio di Giannantonio, with four rounds remaining.

KTM team-mate Brad Binder also produced a swash-buckling ride to finish Sunday’s race in fourth place.