Pedro Acosta impressed again by being the third classified in the MotoGP Portuguese GP – 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.
When asked if he believed it was possible to finish in the top five, the Spanish rider replied at the press conference: ‘Ultimately, I was taking the speed. This situation is much more normal for me, with a full tank, several laps… at the moment the Sprint races are very… I’m not very comfortable in this situation, because you see these riders going full throttle from the start without worrying, and I’m having some problems with the small tank. But, in any case, in the end I was quite comfortable on the bike in both races, also in Qatar, to make overtakes. This feeling with the front tire is so familiar from the 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 only 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 body movements 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‘.
Malgré avoir essayé d’apprendre de Bagnaia, le #31 considère plus difficile de faire de même avec les pilotes de l’équipe d’usine KTM, Brad Binder et Jack Miller: ‘Je pensais juste à les dépasser. Pour être honnête, j’ai beaucoup lu sur Pecco pour voir comment il bougeait son corps et comment il jouait avec l’angle de la moto. Mais avec la KTM, c’est très compliqué de comprendre derrière eux en mode course, car parfois avec le vent et la turbulence, votre tête bouge et vous n’êtes pas à 100% concentré sur voir les motos ou comment ils jouent avec la moto. Mais c’est vrai que samedi, peut-être que nous perdions beaucoup dans les virages 4 et 5, puis à la sortie du virage 5 vers le 6, et dans la course principale, voir comment Pecco a joué avec la moto et le corps m’a un peu aidé à piloter pendant la course’.
