Pedro Acosta impressed again by being the third classified in the Portuguese MotoGP Grand Prix – achieving a podium in only the second round of his career. During Sunday’s race in Portimão, the young Red Bull GasGas Tech3 rider did not focus on the result, but rather on learning from other riders… including the champion of the last two years.
Asked if he believed it was possible to finish in the top five, the Spaniard replied at the press conference: ‘After all, I was taking the speed. This situation is much more normal for me, with a full tank, several laps… right now the Sprint races are very… I’m not very comfortable in this situation, because you see these riders going flat out from the start without worrying, and I’m having some problems with the small tank. But, in any case, in the end I was very comfortable on the bike in both races, also in Qatar, to make overtakes. This feeling with the front tire is so familiar from my days in Moto3 and the Rookies Cup‘.
According to Acosta, the focus was not on the result, but on observing the opponents: ‘I wasn’t focused on the top five, I was just focused on understanding how the race was, understanding how I need to save the tires, because in Qatar we saw that I had a lot of difficulties at the end of the race. I was also trying to mimic Pecco’s movements with my body [Bagnaia] because he is one of the best at saving tires in Sunday races. So I’m happy, because I was able to learn several things from him. It was good‘.
A pesar de haber intentado aprender de Bagnaia, el #31 considera más difícil hacer lo mismo con los pilotos del equipo de fábrica de KTM, Brad Binder y Jack Miller: ‘Solo estaba pensando en adelantarlos. Para ser honesto, estuve leyendo mucho sobre Pecco para ver cómo movía su cuerpo y cómo jugaba con el ángulo de la moto. Pero con respecto a KTM, es muy complicado entender estar detrás de ellos en modo de carrera, porque a veces con el viento y la turbulencia tu cabeza se mueve y no estás al 100% enfocado en ver las motos o en ver cómo juegan con la moto. Pero es cierto que el sábado quizás estábamos perdiendo mucho en las curvas 4 y 5 y luego en la salida de la curva 5 a la 6, y en la carrera principal ver cómo Pecco estaba jugando con la moto y con el cuerpo me ayudó un poco a pilotar durante la carrera’.
