Pedro Acosta: Bezzecchi clash “racing”, but Martin pass “not a mistake” in US MotoGP
A dramatic Sunday at COTA ends with Pedro Acosta back on the MotoGP podium for KTM.
Pedro Acosta repeated his Sprint feat of being the factory Aprilia team's closest rival in Sunday’s US MotoGP.
And this time, he was able to keep the position, after being stripped of third place by a post-race tyre pressure penalty on Saturday.
However, the Red Bull KTM rider revealed it wasn’t an error that allowed Jorge Martin into second place on lap 14 of 20.
“Well, being honest, it was not a mistake,” Acosta told MotoGP.com.
“I was exactly in the same [situation] as yesterday with the low pressure in the front. For this, I had to let somebody pass [and follow].
“I was taking my time to [see] if Jorge was going to make a gap with the guys behind, because it was a big group and I didn’t want to arrive in that mess.
“Then after he was ahead [of me], I struggled a bit to catch the rhythm again, but we managed to be on the podium.”
But if the Martin pass was tactical, Marco Bezzecchi’s overtake for the lead on the opening lap certainly wasn’t.
The pair clashed as their lines crossed while accelerating onto the back straight, after Acosta had run wide.
“For sure not the nicest way to start a race!” Acosta said of the contact, which damaged some aero on both machines. “But racing is like this.
“The problem is that I have to play my cards, and one of them was to try to be in front and push from the first lap.
“Maybe in this braking point, with the full fuel tank, I pushed too much. I went wide, and then it was not easy with the wind when we have some wheelie trying to change the lines.
“Thankfully, we can say that everything finished okay.”
That hadn’t been the case earlier in the day with Acosta ‘destroying’ one of his RC16s in warm-up.
“Again, I made a mess in warm up, I have to thank all the KTM crew, even the Tech3 guys, because everyone came to help give me two bikes for the race today. I’m so grateful for this.”
Acosta, winner of the Buriram Sprint, returns to Europe holding third in the MotoGP standings behind Bezzecchi and Martin.
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