The aggressive overtake by Enea Bastianini (Ducati) on Jorge Martín (Prima Pramac/Ducati) during the last lap of the MotoGP Emilia-Romagna GP has sparked divided opinions. Some argue the Italian should have been penalized for forcing his rival off track, while others see no reason for a penalty.
Pedro Acosta (Red Bull GasGas Tech3/KTM) was asked for his opinion and initially replied: ‘I don’t have an opinion. I would say no penalty, but it’s true that he didn’t do this to me. Maybe if he had done it to me, the opinion would be other’.
The rookie also pointed out that similar incidents have occurred in the past, considering it to be somewhat normal: ‘We’ve seen this kind of overtaking many times in the past – like [Valentino] Rossi with [Sete] Gibernau, or [Marc] Márquez with [Jorge] Lorenzo, or a battle here in 2016 with Rossi and Lorenzo. So, all the great riders in history make overtakes like this’.
On the other hand, Acosta noted the context of this particular overtake: ‘It was also the last lap, fighting for the victory, we’ve been talking for two weeks that here is difficult to overtake. I understand both sides. It’s difficult to say if they didn’t do it to me’.