MotoGP “needs” battles like Pedro Acosta vs Marc Marquez at Mugello

Pedro Acosta says MotoGP “needs” battles like the one he enjoyed with Marc Marquez at the Italian Grand Prix.

Acosta and Marquez battled over fourth place for the first three-quarters of the 23-lap race at Mugello, although they were overhauled in the end by Ai Ogura and Fabio Di Giannantonio.

Marquez was able to use the strength of the Ducati in the front straight to hold position over his compatriot, while Acosta was sharper on corner entry. It created a fascinating battle because, while Acosta seemed the faster of the two, Marquez was able to stay within range to retaliate on the straight whenever Acosta was able to pass – at least before his physical condition began to take its toll in the final laps.

The battle was one that MotoGP needs more of, Acosta thinks, his race with Marquez happening in stark contrast to the race at the front between Marco Bezzecchi and Francesco Bagnaia, who passed each other twice before Bagnaia faded in the final third of the race.

“I hope the fans enjoyed it on TV,” Pedro Acosta said of his battle with Marquez.

“I think the championship needs more races like this one to create the [excitement]. 

“Also, from the inside it was good. It was quite nice. Good passes, really good battle with Marc [Marquez]. 

“I was able to spend a lot of time behind him and be able to see how he is managing the pace with all the experience that he has, knowing it was a going to be a hard one. For this, satisfied.”

He added: “It’s always nice to battle with Marc. At the end, I tried to pass him one time, he passed me back, and then I spent some laps behind him, just trying to understand what he was doing. 

“I was knowing that sooner or later the guys that were behind me were going to catch me – it’s what happens every race, it’s nothing new. 

“I was just trying to understand what Marc was doing different than me, trying his lines that here in Mugello, these turns eight and nine are much easier when you are behind somebody.

“It was quite interesting to go behind Marc and see what he was doing.”

Acosta seemed to be losing out most on the straight compared to Marquez on the Ducati. After the races in the Americas Acosta thought KTM had improved in this area, but since the return to Europe KTM’s lack of straight line performance has returned to something more like that which was evident in Thailand.

“Today we know more or less that we were going to miss it [top speed],” Acosta said.

“It’s true that now it’s time to check the data with the team and try to understand why again – after Brazil and America it as looking slightly better – we are struggling again.”

Acosta was the only KTM in the top-10 in the race, a result which came after he was comfortably out-paced by Enea Bastianini on Friday. Bastianini crashed out of both races, but was already behind Acosta when he fell.

The turnaround of his weekend from being out of the top-10 on Friday to being in the battle for fourth for most of the race was satisfying for Acosta, but he was still unhappy with the performance level.

“The recovery was good but the performance is still quite poor,” he said.

“We need to keep going and try to understand with the team why we were struggling that much this weekend. 

“It’s true, it looks like we were the only ones recovering this weekend compared to the other KTMs. For this, we have to keep going.”