Pedro Acosta continues to delight motorcycle fans and in Portugal once again showed all his talent by conquering a place on the podium in Sunday’s race in Portimão. Aleix Espargaró sees in the rookie traits of a ‘world number one’.
Eighth on the Portuguese circuit, Espargaró saw his compatriot stand out and did not hold back in his praise, emphasizing the learning ability of the GASGAS Tech3 rider: ‘Unbelievable, the race he did, the way he learns. Yesterday [Saturday] he was with me, we did the race together, and what he is capable of absorbing and learning from Saturday to Sunday, looking at the telemetry, learning behind the other riders. On Saturday he said in the statements, he learned a lot behind that group. On Sunday, he put everything he learned on track and, moreover, he is very good’.
Furthermore, for a rookie in the category, doing what he does with the KTM RC16 deserved a special mention, as well as the way he behaves at the helm of it:
– But it also gives us to understand that KTM is improving at beastly levels, because the way he rides the bike is of a crack, the number one in the world, but the bike follows him. So, I think no one was expecting Pedro and KTM to be so strong.
The praise for Acosta has been constant and the 19-year-old rider continues to surprise. In the race, he beat former world champion Marc Márquez and later, two-time champion Pecco Bagnaia.
