MotoGP | Acosta already on the podium: “The best overtaking? The one on Pecco”

There doesn't seem to be much doubt anymore that Pedro Acosta will be one of the stars of the future of MotoGP. What many probably wouldn't have expected is that he could become one right away. In fact, just two Grands Prix were enough for the reigning Moto2 world champion to conquer his first podium in the premier class. Among other things, at 19 years old he was the third youngest in history to do so today in Portimao.

But it's how he did it that literally left everyone speechless: for a good part of the race he battled with two sacred monsters like Marc Marquez and Pecco Bagnaia, then managing to overtake them both. He inherited the podium on the last lap, when Maverick Vinales was betrayed by a problem with the gearbox of his Aprilia, but the GasGas Tech3 rider had already earned fourth position with full merit and in fact he also showed personality, pointing out something which he cared about: “One thing, Bagnaia I overtook him before he fell”, he said smiling.

Very honestly, he admitted that perhaps things went even better than he would have hoped: “The podium arrived sooner than everyone expected, because on Friday I was out of Q2. We must be very happy. Today we managed the race well, in Qatar at the start I was driving at the limit to get closer to the leaders, this time I tried something in the Warm-Up for the start and it went much better. I only lost positions on Marc Marquez and Brad Binder: a good start because yesterday at turn 3 I was 15th,” he explained.

Doing many laps behind Bagnaia was very useful for him to learn from a colleague who is already a master in tire management. However, he also complicated the riding of his KTM because he raised the tire pressure. This is why he then decided to attack the reigning world champion.

“We must be very satisfied with how we managed the race, because in Qatar it got out of hand. The problem is that I did many laps behind Pecco, very close to him, because I wanted to find the right place to overtake him. Then the pressure of the My front tire went up a lot, so I decided to try to overtake it to see if I could get a good result, but it was a disaster, I almost crashed twice in the same corner,” he said.

“Then I tried to do different lines, doing a bit like the F1s and preparing myself better for turn 3, but each time with the turbulence I had more vibrations, I couldn't get out of turns 1 and 2 well. I concentrated, I I looked at what he did with his body, because Pecco is one of the best at managing the tires on Sunday, so keeping up with him allowed me to learn a lot”, he added.

Then he managed to overtake and the Spanish driver indicated it as his favorite among those he managed to complete today: “Definitely the one on Pecco, because I did many laps behind him. It was a difficult overtaking, because the first time I tried I went long and he passed me. I wanted to make him nervous, but he didn't hold back. Then I succeeded and that's why I think it was a good battle.”