Pedro Acosta: ‘These guys know how to be fast, they are not stupid’
Pedro Acosta says Marc Marquez may be holding something back after witnessing the six-time MotoGP champion’s impressive long run.
Pedro Acosta joined Jorge Martin in picking out Marc Marquez as someone to watch due to his impressive long run pace at the Sepang MotoGP test.
But Acosta himself was also very strong and believes he’s getting closer to the top riders.
“There is still a way to go,” began Acosta. “Now I’m 0.6 behind [laughs]. They know how to go fast. I don’t know if [Marc] Marquez was struggling yesterday or if he was just easing in a bit.
“But he was at the front today making really good lap times. These guys know how to be fast and they are not stupid.
“They know what they have to do, so it’s not a surprise. But I’m quite happy.
“We are riding faster than the old lap record. They were fast also, but I’m happy because I still have a way to go.”
Acosta has continued to gain speed, both in terms of race pace and qualifying trim, throughout every day of testing at Sepang.
Filled with expectation due to his success in Moto3 and Moto2, Acosta is seen as one of the best talents to enter MotoGP in a long time.
But the Spaniard is letting pressure phase him: “Pressure is only a word. If you believe in that then you have that.
“I lived it for the last three years, everyday I had pressure. This is now quite normal.
“But we cannot be focusing on the testing because Miller is 14, Marini 18th, Rins 15th, Quartararo 11th, Binder 10th - these guys are going to be at the front in a race weekend.”
Speaking a bit more about the situation within KTM, Acosta still sees Brad Binder as the rider to beat.
“Binder will be there! He was fast. He made some mistakes but I put myself second now.
“He was fast and his pace was good. Yesterday he made 58.4s, for this he is number 1 still in KTM at the moment.”
