Pedro Acosta cautious after Le Mans: “We start from zero”

Pedro Acosta believes he had the pace to fight for victory at Le Mans, however, the sensational MotoGP rookie has played down expectations heading into this weekend.

Acosta has been fast at every circuit so far in 2024 but Le Mans was perhaps his first real shot at claiming a maiden MotoGP win.

Acosta crashed when trying to put his KTM machine between Fabio Di Giannantonio and Aleix Espargaro, nearly wiping out both riders in the process.

But when asked if he believes the same potential can be shown this weekend in Catalunya, Acosta gave a cautious response.

The Spaniard said: “Well let’s see. Again it is a new track for us on a MotoGP bike. We need to start from zero.

“It’s true that KTM were working like hell this week to avoid the problems we had in Le Mans.

“On Sunday we made a really big step but here we need to start from zero.

“We know that this track is quite tricky with the grip and so we need to understand how our bike is working. Last season it was not very easy and Brad [Binder] could not finish the race.”

Every circuit he goes to is his first experience at that track on a MotoGP bike.

However, that hasn’t fazed the reigning Moto2 world champion, who is aiming to improve his starts this weekend, which he feels is his weakest area at present. 

“Like when I went to Malaysia for the first time, like when I went to Qatar, in the end it is not going to be easy,” added Acosta.

“Let’s try to make a good qualifying and let’s try to make a good start which is maybe our worst area at the moment.

“The other riders arrive as fast as you and this is going to be the case [again].”