MotoGP | Acosta: “The pilots should be more real, like Schwantz and Stoner”

Pedro Acosta arrives in Austin and after the great podium obtained at the Portuguese Grand Prix he continues to have many spotlights on him. The feeling of most experts is that the Mazarron native rider is a special talent, one of those who moves up to the top class of the MotoGP once every 10-15 years.

For this reason, the countdown has begun that separates him from his first victory in the premier class, MotoGP, which this weekend will stop at the Circuit of the Americas to compete in the Grand Prix of the Americas in Austin, Texas.

“We arrive in Austin without expectations”, the 19-year-old from the GasGas Tech3 team immediately made it clear. “It's very easy to think and talk, but we're not in a moment where we have to say anything. We have to be very realistic: we can't get the victory after just two races.”

“Last year I had a lot of fun in Austin in Moto2, it was fantastic and this year will try to do the same thing, which is to have fun. I've been very busy training, but I would have liked to go to Argentina and do another race in MotoGP. But things went like this. We arrive here rested and ready to start from scratch.”

Austin is a physically demanding track and the 20 laps will be a very complex test to overcome. Acosta thinks he has also prepared well to improve in those sectors where he has been less comfortable up until now, namely qualifying and the Sprint race on Saturday.

“This is one of the most complicated races of the World Championship from a physical point of view. 20 laps are long, we will take it calmly. It is true that we will bring new things here to see if we can improve in the sprint races and on the flying lap, which for the moment this is what is penalizing us the most. Let's see if we can put ourselves among the first.”

“As for the new features I was talking about, they are changes, details. Everything was designed to go better with an empty tank to feel more at ease with the bike.”

Being in the United States, Acosta was asked about Kevin Schwantz, one of the icons of stars and stripes motorcycling thanks to his victories (25 in the top series of the MotoGP) and the world title won in the 1993 season aboard a Suzuki.

Acosta didn't hold back and, on the contrary, seized the opportunity to state something that was not trivial for a boy of his age: “We need more people like Schwantz. I'm not talking about driving or competition. Sometimes we need more drivers with that DNA”.

“Once, when I was little, I went to Jerez de la Frontera and Angel and Fonsi Nieto were there. Kevin was also there and he was the only one who spent 4 hours signing autographs for the fans. We need more of people like that. This is the true DNA of MotoGP.”

“I think the riders need to be more natural, we need to be like the riders of a few years ago, with characters of the caliber of Casey Stoner or Dani Pedrosa,” concluded Acosta.