Pedro Acosta had one of his worst results since making his MotoGP debut this year by finishing 13th in the Catalan GP. However, he made an impressive recovery in Sunday’s race in Barcelona.
The Red Bull GasGas Tech3 rider crashed while fighting for top positions on the 11th lap, but managed to get back up and resume the race. With about half the distance remaining, and despite not having a good result within reach, he did not give up or resign himself.
Fighting spirit, Acosta went for the best possible result and crossed the finish line in 14th place – later promoted to 13th due to the penalty imposed on Enea Bastianini (Ducati) who had finished ahead of him. And, even more impressively, the rookie finished ahead of… all the Honda riders.
The Japanese manufacturer had five bikes on track with the wildcard entry of Stefan Bradl. The best Honda rider turned out to be Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda) in 14th, 1.020s behind Acosta. Joan Mir (Repsol Honda), Johann Zarco (LCR Honda), and Luca Marini (Repsol Honda) finished between 15th and 17th, while Bradl finished 19th.
