Pedro Acosta ‘just accepting’ ongoing KTM MotoGP struggles
Pedro Acosta says he is now having to accept the limitations of his KTM
Pedro Acosta says “I just accept” that his pre-season ambitions of fighting “for something bigger” are unlikely amid his current struggles on the KTM MotoGP bike.
The Spaniard topped Friday practice at the Malaysian Grand Prix, but couldn’t carry that speed into qualifying, where he ended up fifth on the grid.
After an early podium challenge in Saturday’s sprint, Pedro Acosta dropped two seconds behind Gresini’s Fermin Aldeguer and took the chequered flag in fourth as tyre wear once again impacted his race.
He was later promoted to third after Aldeguer was hit with a penalty for a tyre pressure infringement, though Acosta seemingly took little comfort from this.
“Well, I wanted to fight for something bigger than a podium at the start of the year,” he said.
“Now, I just accept the things. Today, seven to go, I saw that there was nothing more to do.
“I was just maintaining my pace and seeing what goes on. I finished fourth.
“At the beginning of the year, I was wishing to finish in the top five.
“Now, I am constantly there. We have to keep going, even if it’s difficult to manage. It is what it is. We just have to keep going.”
“Rough” sprint for Brad Binder at Sepang
KTM team-mate Brad Binder was almost 15 seconds further back in 16th, as his bike “was not going forward at all on the throttle”.
“The race was insane,” he said.
“I got a really good launch off the line. And then after that, that’s pretty much where it ended.
“For some reason, I was not going forward at all on the throttle, especially on the left.
“The left-hand side of the tyre wouldn’t move. I would lose so much on the drive zones and try to make up a little bit on the brakes, or try to roll [off the gas] a bit.
“But the front wasn’t having it either. So, really, really difficult race for us. Was rough.
“Really need to have a look and try to understand what went wrong today, so we can make sure it doesn’t happen tomorrow.”
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