P3 but Pedro Acosta calls Catalunya sprint “toughest of the season so far”

Pedro Acosta was once again in the thick of the podium battle during the Catalunya MotoGP sprint, finishing third behind fellow Spaniards Aleix Espargaro and Marc Marquez.

Acosta momentarily led after an overtake on Francesco Bagnaia on lap three, before leading again when Raul Fernandez crashed from first place at turn ten.

But Acosta was unable to hold onto that position as overheating the tyres became an issue.

Asked if he had fun during the 12-lap race, Acosta said: “Not the most. It was super tough. For sure, the toughest one of the whole season so far.

“The moment you make a mistake with the throttle and you start to spin and overheat the tyre you are done.

“This happened when Raul went in front of me, he was pushing like hell, and I got a bit hot and I said ‘okay, I will go for it’. Tough but also a help for the grand prix.”

Acosta, who lost out to second spot on the final lap when Marc Marquez out-braked the rookie into turn one, admitted to overheating his front tyre when following Bagnaia and Brad Binder.

“I overheated the front tyre behind Pecco and behind Brad,” said the GASGAS rider. “Then I was struggling with the gas and started spinning. 

“Then it snowballed and every corner got bigger and bigger. Everyone wanted to be in front to save the front tyre but then it was so difficult to be in front because when you were alone and with a big distance to the guy in front, it was quite difficult to be fast in the last sector.

“Then it was easy for the other guys to overtake you in turn one, then it was difficult to avoid sliding in turn five, it was quite tricky.”

After crashing out in Le Mans, the return to the podium was a very welcome sight for Acosta given the difficulties in the sprint.

But when asked if he believes his RC16 will be ready to challenge for the win in today’s grand prix, Acosta remained hopeful.

Acosta began by saying: “I hope! The team is going to work but we don’t really know. The good thing is that we are getting closer.

“A track that last year the bike suffered a lot at, now we are P3. Taking out the crash from Pecco in the last lap because I know somebody will ask about that, but we were fourth. Maybe 1.2s from the win. It is not so far.”

Turn ten was Acosta’s chance! 

When Marquez came through for second, Acosta looked lively as he seemingly wanted to snap straight back.

The reigning Moto2 world champion admitted that was his initial feeling and that a move was planned for turn ten.

However, Acosta soon decided against such a manoeuvre: “I was trying to prepare turn ten because it was the safest one because if I went wide I had asphalt to run wide.

“But the gap to Martin was not massive and also, after seeing Pecco crash I said we had more to lose than win, today.”