Pedro Acosta‘s ninth place finish in Qatar last Sunday does not reflect the rookie’s impact on the opening round of the MotoGP world championship or his future with KTM.
After a pre-season in which the spotlight was focused on Marc Marquez and his arrival at Gresini Ducati, the debut of reigning Moto2 world champion Pedro Acosta in MotoGP even managed to tip the media balance in his favour.
A creditable eighth place in Saturday’s sprint was eclipsed the following day at the start of the main race, in which Francesco Bagnaia put on a display of strength as Acosta put on a show, with a vigorous comeback that took him from 10th place on the first lap to fourth place by the 12th, after overtaking Marquez with a tremendous dive into the first corner.
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While the comparisons between Marquez and Acosta have been frequent since the latter made his debut in the world championship just three years ago, the parallels are even more pronounced after the Spaniard’s debut in MotoGP, in which he demonstrated a similar charisma to the one that Marquez displayed in that historic 2013 season.
“They are very similar. Marc arrived without any complexes and with the desire to take on the world, and that is what we have seen today in Pedro,” a key member of the Honda team in that first experience of the #93 rider admitted to Autosport on Sunday.
There is probably no better proof of that shamelessness than the fastest lap of the race – the second – that the GasGas youngster, just 19 years old, grabbed.
The tremendous level of demand for what was his first long race meant that Acosta was unable to finish with a bang. Afterwards, when speaking to journalists, the rider pointed out that it was his lack of experience that caused his tyres to degrade more than was ideal, making it impossible for him to keep up the pace he had set in the first half of the race.
Acosta fought with Marquez over fourth in the early part of the Qatar GP
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
However, just as and if not more important than that, was the sudden stiffness in his forearms, which appeared in the last six laps and which, irremediably, led to him lapping between one and 1.5 seconds slower per lap.
Little by little he was swallowed up by a field with much more experience than him, until he finished ninth, 11.5 seconds behind Bagnaia, as he attempted to loosen up his…
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