The young rookie from GasGas Tech3, competing in his team’s home race, topped the timesheets during Friday testing at Le Mans and ended the day with the third fastest time, beaten only by Jorge Martin’s Ducatis and Pecco Bagnaia, top two both in the 2023 World Championship and in the current world championship ranking.
Pedro Acosta’s performances never cease to amaze, even though he has become used to it by now, with only four Grands Prix contested so far.
“This Friday went better than usual, it’s the first time I got to Q2 alone. And the pace was good. The Jerez test helped me a lot to concentrate and to be more precise with the accelerator, to get the the power to the tire more fluidly, because before I was a bit abrupt, in a way. I have been training all week focusing on this aspect and we are making small steps forward. In the end, if you have Pol Espargaró and Dani Pedrosa to help you and the technician I have, what could go wrong?”, he asked himself.
During the session we could see Acosta push to the limit, with some saves that reminded us of Marc Marquez from his better days.
“The truth is that two years ago I crashed at the same place where I saved her, I knew there was a bump at that point, I was going a bit too fast and the conditions were a bit cold for the medium front tire I had at the time. I was expecting it a little and that’s why we saved it, which was the important thing because I couldn’t crash again,” he said referring to the crash in the Jerez Warm-Up.
Acosta doesn’t take all the credit for this type of action, but he also attributes it to his bike, a KTM RC16 dressed in GasGas red.
“We have one of the best fronts on the MotoGP grid and this allows you to do this type of thing, because we were able to do it at Turn 5 in Jerez in the wet, and it’s not the most common thing in the world. Little by little we are improving the things that are not so favorable on our bike, while maintaining the things that are good,” he explained.
Pedro Acosta, Tech3 GASGAS Factory Racing
Photo by: Marc Fleury
While Acosta qualified directly for Q2, Brad Binder suffered two crashes in afternoon practice, plus another in the morning, bringing his total crashes for the season to eight, the most in the category, and Jack Miller had a couple of going off track, although he recovered with a fast lap at the end to finish sixth.
From the outside, the feeling is that the official riders are a little nervous due to the superiority shown by the Spaniard.
“I don’t think that’s why, they too are going to do it. In the end we are going our own way, everyone is testing things to solve the vibration problem and this afternoon, as a brand in general, we will decide which path to follow for this problem. Like in America at turn 13, here at Le Mans, at turn 8, I’m not saying it’s exaggerated, but it feels a lot. Let’s see if we can solve it,” explained Acosta.
As he said in Jerez, the KTM suffers, in some places, from vibrations, the same thing that Ducati riders complain about. Motorsport.com asked Pedro if the nature of the problem is the same for both brands. “Yes, it’s the rubber, it’s not a question of the bike or the suspension. It’s the tire that produces vibrations”, he said.
Pedro Acosta, Red Bull GASGAS Tech3
Photo de: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
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