Pedro Acosta fumes at MotoGP tyre pressure rule: “We looked like donkeys”

Pedro Acosta says MotoGP riders “looked like donkeys” at the Indonesian Grand Prix after battling front tyre pressure issues.

The KTM rider was forced to give a position back to Marc Marquez during Sunday’s 27-lap race at Mandalika after receiving a warning for his front tyre pressure being too low.

He had to swap places several times so he could avoid being given a 16-second time penalty for running too many laps under the minimum 1.8-bar limit.

Jorge Martin lost victory in the sprint on Saturday to a similar issue.

Acosta wants tyre pressure rule changes

Tyre pressures have to be set before the race by teams based on how they think their rider’s race will pan out.

But Acosta believes this needs a rethink after the Mandalika weekend.

“I mean, we looked like donkeys,” he told reporters, including Crash, on Sunday.

“I mean, I think he [Marquez] was having the same problems as me because he let me past also.

“I don’t know. I understand we should have a minimum pressure before going out to the race, but you cannot decide… for example, yesterday, Martin.

“I imagine that his race was thinking that [Marco] Bezzecchi and Marc was going to be in front.

“You cannot control what the other guys do. I think we should have a minimum pressure before we start on the grid, and then what happens happens. You cannot do anything.”

Marquez didn’t mention any tyre pressure issues during his race.

“When I was behind it was OK, but when I was in front it was like, fine, fine, fine, fine, not fine, not fine, not fine,” Acosta added.

“Maybe I should have stayed longer behind Marc, but I thought if I passed him one lap later it was not going to change anything.

“For this, like I say, we lost a lot of time with these things and this took me away from the possibility to be inside the top four.

“Anyway, we made a good race, first non-Aprilia, much better than yesterday.

“I was struggling the whole race with the front tyre pressure and I was losing massive time letting Marc passed, then overtaking him again, then letting him pass again, then passing him.

“Then [Ai] Ogura caught us and he was faster than us. I think we took the maximum we could. Not much to say, to be honest.”