‘Worst race on calendar’ fears come true for fuming Pedro Acosta in Australian MotoGP
Pedro Acosta was unhappy with his level of performance at the Australian Grand Prix
KTM’s Pedro Acosta says his fears of the Australian Grand Prix being his worst MotoGP race on the calendar proved “exactly like this” after finishing fifth.
The 21-year-old has enjoyed consistent podium challenges since KTM introduced updates after the summer break.
Taking a hard-fought second in Indonesia, and with a number of big names absent for the Australian Grand Prix, this weekend’s Phillip Island round presented a good opportunity for Pedro Acosta.
After taking third in the sprint, the KTM rider fought for the lead early in the grand prix before fading 7.930s adrift to fifth at the chequered flag.
An unhappy Acosta told TNT Sport afterwards that he was only at “70%” of his full potential on the RC16 and still suffered “a hole” in his tyres.
“Well, difficult because when you make a race at 70% of your performance and you even end up with a hole in the tyres that you can’t manage, it’s critical, I would say,” he said.
“For this, we need to keep going because it is the only way.”
MotoGP has celebrated two first-time winners at the last brace of races now, with rookie Fermin Aldguer triumphant at Mandalika and Raul Fernandez taking top honours at Phillip Island.
Acosta believes he and KTM are close to being able to win races, but admits it is “quite tough” to ride like he is currently.
“Well, I think we are close, but we need to wait for our moment,” he added.
“I knew that this track was going to be difficult before coming here.
“It is our worst race of the calendar for me, but also for the bike.
“And it was exactly like this!
“We hope that now there are coming better races for us, like Sepang, Portugal, like Valencia, and we expect to just improve because it is quite tough to race like this.”
KTM’s next-best competitor behind Acosta was his team-mate Brad Binder, who was over four seconds further back in eighth.
With Aprilia securing a double win at Phillip Island, it is now 47 points clear of KTM in the battle for second in the manufacturers’ championship.
In this article
