Pedro Acosta says MotoGP felt natural after riding 1000cc bikes at 14
Pedro Acosta says years of riding 1000cc machines gave him an advantage when he stepped into MotoGP.
Pedro Acosta has revealed he was riding 1000cc motorcycles even before making his Moto3 World Championship debut.
The Red Bull KTM rider, currently fourth in the MotoGP standings, believes that early experience with larger machines helped him adapt quickly to the premier class.
“I think I have more advantage than somebody else in their first time on a MotoGP bike because I was riding 1000cc bikes since I was 14 - I was literally not even in the world championship,” Acosta told the Gypsy Tales podcast.
“For this, I always have the feeling that when I was going to jump into bigger classes it was going to be easier.
“It looks like it was like this because when I started in Moto3, I was struggling much more to understand the bikes, the physics and everything.
“But from the first day in MotoGP it was like everything matched. This is my bike again, you know.
“It’s true that I struggled with some other things, but the first taste was quite nice.”
Acosta, a double world champion after title-winning campaigns in Moto3 and Moto2, made an immediate impression in MotoGP, standing on the podium in just his second and third grands prix.
Although still chasing a maiden grand prix victory, he has already claimed a Sprint win at Buriram this season and remains the only KTM rider inside the top ten of the championship standings.
“There was no more money”
Acosta also revealed how close he came to walking away from motorcycle racing before a last-minute application for the Red Bull Rookies Cup changed his future.
“My career had many ups and downs, because there was one big moment where I was really close to not being able to ride anymore, because there wasn’t any more money in the family,” he explained.
“I remember when we said ‘look, there’s no more chances’. We sent the papers in for the Red Bull Rookies Cup selection on the last day. Thankfully it saved my career. If not there were not any more chances.”
After scoring just three points from five appearances in the 2018 CEV Moto3 series, Acosta won three races during his debut Red Bull Rookies Cup campaign in 2019, secured the title in 2020 and graduated to grand prix racing the following year.
The 22-year-old is set to partner Marc Marquez at the factory Ducati team next season.
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