“Personal mistake” for Acosta in Motegi MotoGP sprint as maiden pole curse continues

Pedro Acosta says his crash out of the lead of the MotoGP Japanese Grand Prix sprint was “a personal mistake” and completed an unwanted hat-trick for the Tech3 rider.

The 20-year-old secured his first pole position in MotoGP on Saturday morning after Marc Marquez had a Q2-topping time cancelled at the end of the session.

It marked Acosta’s first grand prix pole since the 2023 Austrian Moto2 round, though he couldn’t convert it to a win in the Motegi sprint as he crashed out of the lead on lap nine of 12.

It’s the third time in grand prix career that Acosta has crashed after securing his first pole, having done the same in Moto3 at the 2021 Valencia GP and in Moto2 in the 2022 French GP.

“Well, was it was a personal mistake,” he told Motogp.com.

“I was little bit wide in Turn 6 and then [I had] a little bit more angle and [was] a little bit wide in Turn 7.

“Anyway, it’s becoming a tradition to crash from my first pole position in any class. Tomorrow, this is the second time we start from P1. Normally second times are better.”

Acosta’s lead had grown to over six tenths when he crashed out of the sprint and doesn’t feel like he was under any pressure before he fell.

“I was quite safe because we were not riding super-fast,” he added.

“It was a stupid mistake, but anyway we need to accept it was my mistake.

“Sorry to KTM, sorry to the whole team, sorry to all the people around this project because today was my fault.

“But we are becoming much closer than what we expected this season. Sure it was tough to accept, but we need to continue this way.”

Francesco Bagnaia, who won the sprint after Acosta’s fall, pegged the Spaniard as being a threat in Sunday’s grand prix - having done so also on Friday after looking at his long run pace.

When asked about this, Acosta said: “We hope. Minimum be calm. It’s going to be a difficult race. Also about choice of the tyre, because no one made many laps on the medium. But let’s see.”