RiderTua.com – Pedro Acosta finished in 2nd place behind Maverick Vinales (Aprilia) at COTA America. This is his best result in MotoGP after previously the rookie from the GasGas Tech3 team finished 3rd in the Portuguese GP.
Acosta, who led from the starting line, led for several laps before getting involved in a battle with Jorge Martin. Then he was again involved in a battle with Marc Marquez, although the fight ended very quickly when the 8-time World Champion crashed a few corners later.
Pedro Acosta : I try not to get the rear tire too hot
Pedro Acosta explained, “I can’t imagine how much I enjoyed the race. Since Moto3 I’ve never really enjoyed a race like that. Overtaking, sliding, touching, it was a really good race until Maverick (Vinales) overtook me. Then it was like rocket. Anyway, I’m very happy with the weekend and the way the team worked.”
Furthermore, the 19 year old rider revealed that in the morning he tried the medium rear tire and at first he wasn’t too sure about it. Also because yesterday the soft tire was not very good and seeing how the team believed in him and their confidence in Acosta was amazing.
Acosta is very grateful to be on the GasGas team and to work with these amazing people. “Very grateful to Pierer’s mobility who helped me like that. They tried their best. I am very happy to be in this family,” added the rider nicknamed Shark from Mazarron.
After struggling with grip at the end of the sprint race, Acosta wanted to avoid that problem in Sunday’s race, which is why he saved as many tires as possible. But even though the battle heated up in the process, for the first time Acosta said that leading the race did not add pressure to him.
“More or less the same. I tried to control myself so as not to damage the tires. Yesterday (in the sprint race), we had a little difficulty when Jorge overtook me. I tried not to overheat the rear tire or do anything crazy. Everything we did at the start it will pay off in the end. I try to stay calm and not do anything crazy,” Acosta said.
Discussing his battle with Marc Marquez, Acosta understood what was the reason the 6-time MotoGP world champion was eliminated from the race. He explained that the pass that Marquez made was very good. According to Acosta, Marc crashed because there were several wet parts throughout the weekend.
Acosta said that it was very exciting to fight against top riders like Marc. He learned a lot from him. “He is very talented,” concluded teammate Augusto Fernandez.
