MotoGP | Acosta: “What a race, I had fun like a child!”

He dreamed of it and came close to it, but victory for Pedro Acosta is still waiting a little longer. The Grand Prix of the Americas was a tempting opportunity, which the Spaniard from the GasGas team was able to make the most of, but he hadn't taken into account a sumptuous Maverick Vinales, unbeatable for anyone. However, the rookie achieved an extraordinary second position.

“Today I had fun like a child! Not since Moto3 have I had so much fun, with everyone overtaking, battling with Jorge Martin, when Marc Marquez overtook me, then the duel with Maverick Vinales… For me it was the best race of my career, even though I second,” the debutant tells the microphones of Sky Sports at the end of a spectacular race, made up of great battles, overtaking and counter-overtaking which revived the fight for the podium positions and of which the young Spaniard was the protagonist.

Acosta built a solid race, going against the trend with his tire choice. In a MotoGP where tires are crucial to the outcome of the race, it was easy to follow the rest of the leading group, who had opted for a soft rear tire. However, the rider from Mazarron decided to focus on a medium pair, a choice that turned out to be the right one: “Yesterday I made a disaster with the rear tire because I burned it behind Marc, and when Martin overtook me at the Curva 11 I had the finished tire. The only way to race today was to average. Today we tried it in the warm-up, I did 5 laps and I said 'guys, either we mount this one or we don't finish the race on the soft'. Truly, thanks to the team because they had more confidence than me, they worked like crazy to make this weekend like this.”

In a particularly complicated weekend for KTM, Pedro Acosta limited the damage by always gaining a position in the top 10. Indeed, today he came close to victory, confirming himself as the best of the weekend aboard the RC16. At the end of the third match, can the young rookie be considered the team's reference? The person concerned claims that he is not yet at this level: “At the beginning of the year I said, KTM and GasGas are coming. For me, Brad Binder continues to be the reference of the brand. All the information coming from the test team with Pol Espargaro and Dani Pedrosa is also important. They work so hard for us, we improved this weekend also thanks to this. They're doing a terrible job.”

The conditions to win are there and now it seems only a matter of time. But how much longer do we have to wait? Acosta looks forward to his home race, in Jerez, with calm. Yes, because he doesn't want to rush this first success, which he knows will come: “I don't set a date for winning at the moment, but I like Portimao, Australia… Even Mugello. But we don't set a date, because that only puts more pressure on us.”