Pedro Acosta defends Marc Marquez: ‘This is what makes MotoGP exciting’

Thai Grand Prix sprint winner Pedro Acosta has defended Marc Marquez’s hard overtake, noting “this is what makes MotoGP exciting for fans”.

Pedro Acosta and Marc Marquez engaged in a thrilling battle for victory in Saturday’s first sprint of the 2026 season, after polesitter Marco Bezzecchi crashed out of the lead.

The pair exchanged positions repeatedly, though the decisive moment came on the penultimate lap when Marquez made a mistake at Turn 5 and ceded the lead to the KTM rider.

Marquez retaliated at the final corner, but forced Acosta wide, which led to the Ducati rider being forced by the stewards to drop the position and hand over the victory.

Ducati branded the penalty “unfair”, with Acosta now agreeing with this point of view.

“Well, super happy to start a season battling with Marc like that,” he told TNT Sport.

“It’s true that I would like to have finished first battling for it, not with Marc letting me past.

“Anyway, in the end, the consistency is there.

“We started in the level that we finished in last year.

“For this, we have to keep going, trying to improve a bit for tomorrow and we’ll see.”

Asked if he thought the penalty for Marquez was fair, Acosta: “No, I mean, racing is like this.

“This is what makes MotoGP exciting for the fans. For this, it was a good overtake.

“It’s also true that here, maybe for the heat, how tough it is to stop these MotoGP bikes, it’s even easier to make a mistake like he did.

“Anyway, with or without the penalty, I’m happy for the race that I did. For this, let’s try to repeat it tomorrow.”

Victory on Saturday marked Acosta first of any kind in MotoGP and comes after a promising pre-season for KTM.

“Well, just trying to work as best as I can in the box,” he said of the result.

“It’s where we are finding the difference.

“It’s true that we’re still struggling in qualifying and in the first laps of the race.

“But, I think we are improving. Let’s see.”