Pedro Acosta: “I was sh**ting my pants” before breakthrough Austrian MotoGP victory
Pedro Acosta bounced back from two Red Bull Ring crashes to claim his long-awaited first MotoGP grand prix victory for KTM.
With the leading Aprilias and Ducatis often out of reach this season, Pedro Acosta feared he had thrown away a golden opportunity with “the most embarrassing mistake of my career” while leading the Austrian MotoGP Sprint.
A second crash in Sunday warm-up only increased the pressure on Acosta not to waste his final chance to win a premier-class grand prix for KTM at its home Red Bull Ring.
“Yesterday's f**k-up was a huge one. And also today's [in warm-up], because I destroyed my racing bike,” Acosta told the official MotoGP website.
“Being honest, I was sh**ting my pants, because I really didn’t want to make another mistake in KTM’s house. But anyway, we dealt with it.”
Acosta had snatched the lead on the opening lap of the Sprint, but went the opposite way at the start of Sunday’s grand prix, dropping from third to fifth.
The 22-year-old then passed future Ducati team-mate Marc Marquez and the Aprilias of Ai Ogura and Marco Bezzecchi in the space of three laps to leave only Sprint winner Jorge Martin ahead.
Acosta overtook the championship leader on lap nine, then controlled his advantage to the chequered flag.
“Super happy about the race,” Acosta said. “It's true that I struggled a bit more than yesterday in the first laps. Also, Jorge was pushing a lot at the beginning, and I was struggling a bit to catch him.
“But then I was just trying to learn from the mistake yesterday, and tried not to make the gap even bigger than I needed.
“I was trying to maintain this 0.5 to 0.7s the whole race, and maintain the fuel, because it was quite a tricky track for that.”
Acosta, who had held the record for most MotoGP podiums without a grand prix victory at 15, celebrated by laying his RC16 on its side and rolling on the ground at the scene of his Sprint crash.
“There was not another way to celebrate that victory, you know?!” he said.
Acosta added: “Finally! I was even remembering my last [Moto2] win in Indonesia 2023. It was also exactly the moment that Tech3 said I was going to join their MotoGP team.
“I can just say thanks to KTM, to all the team - also to Tech3 guys, because they helped to repair my bike from the crash this morning.
“Without them we couldn't have two bikes ready for the race.”
Although made to wait until his 56th MotoGP start, Acosta could hardly have chosen a better place to finally reach the top step.
“It's more emotional to do it in KTM’s home and Red Bull’s house,” he said. “Super happy for them and myself.
“[KTM] were struggling a lot last year even to keep competing in the championship. And finally, how they came away from bankruptcy, and us recovering the potential of our bike was quite awesome.
“For this, I just can say thanks. It was a long way to get here, but we will enjoy it for sure.”
Since joining MotoGP in 2024, Acosta had watched fellow Spaniards Fermin Aldeguer and Raul Fernandez claim their first premier-class grand prix victories before his own breakthrough arrived.
Acosta, who took a maiden Sprint victory at the Buriram season opener, has now climbed to fourth in the world championship, 72 points behind Martin.
Peter has been in the paddock for 20 years and has seen Valentino Rossi come and go. He is at the forefront of the Suzuki exit story and Marc Marquez’s injury issues.
