Pedro Acosta only had ‘big balls strategy’ for Valencia MotoGP sprint

KTM’s Pedro Acosta says “the only strategy was to attack from the start” of the MotoGP Valencia Grand Prix sprint, as he used “big balls” to get up to second.

The 21-year-old was one of the favourites to fight for victory after Friday practice, but was left on the back foot after qualifying fifth.

A rocket start saw Pedro Acosta muscle his way into the podium places at Turn 1 of the 13-lap sprint, before a strong move on polesitter Marco Bezzecchi for second at Turn 2.

Acosta was able to break away with eventual winner Alex Marquez, but a mistake on lap five at Turn 8 dropped the KTM almost a second adrift, from which he could not recover.

Asked how he was able to get to second at the start, Acosta replied: “Big balls, my man. I mean, it was clear that the only strategy was to attack from the start.

“After that, everything became easier because I only had to follow Alex.

“It’s true that I made a small mistake arriving at Turn 8, locking the front and going back.

“It cost me and it was difficult to close this gap back, because with the soft we were having a really similar pace. I think we did a good race.”

Acosta admits he was thinking about going against the grain and running the medium rear, owing to the KTM’s difficulties in preserving its rubber.

But he elected to go with the majority soft option to “have the same tools” as the leaders.

He is hopeful that the change to the medium for the grand prix on Sunday will help him take a step forward, though that won’t fix the “nightmare” lack of traction the RC16 still has.

“If you remember Qatar, we were struggling a lot with tyres,” he said.

“And then we just changed the tyre and it was better.

“Maybe tomorrow can be a day like this. It’s true that we still need a lot of traction because, now, it’s a nightmare for us.

“Anyway, we are making good races without that. So, we have to keep going.”

Sunday represents Acosta’s last chance to stop his winless streak in MotoGP stretching to two full seasons.

However, he says he isn’t approaching the grand prix as win or bust.

“No, I have to keep going with my podium stretch,” he added.

“I’m learning a lot from that, and I think I’ve grown a lot since I had this consistency.

“I have to keep going. I mean, one day will have to be our day.

“We know we have a lot of limitations, even more in short distances, in sprint races or time attacks. But I think tomorrow can be a good day for us.”