“The pain will be the limit” for Pedro Acosta at Thailand MotoGP

Pedro Acosta arrives in Buriram for this weekend’s MotoGP Thai Grand Prix off the back of a tough weekend in Australia last weekend that saw him injure his shoulder in the Sprint.

On Sunday morning, Acosta was ruled unfit and was therefore unable to race in the Grand Prix, but in Thailand this weekend he says his condition is already improved.

Speaking on Thursday ahead of the MotoGP Thai Grand Prix, Acosta summarised his condition compared to last weekend in Australia as: “A lot better. I had some days with a lot of physio and a lot of things out of the track, but, anyway, feeling much better.”

Scans in Australia had revealed the extent of the damage Acosta had done to his shoulder in his Sprint crash.

“It was a partial break of the ligament,” he said. “I’d say, it sort of goes out and going in a quite violent way, and it makes everything worse. Anyway, it’s what it is, it’s improved a lot in the last couple of days; for this, we have to be happy.”

Acosta said that he won’t require surgery on his injured shoulder, and he added that pain, rather than strength, is expected to be the limiting factor for him this weekend in Thailand.

“The pain will be the limit, the doctor says,” he said.

“Let’s see what is going on. The good thing is that I can have all the range of movement without pain — it’s more if I touch it that I have pain.”

In a way, Acosta’s injury had come at a poor moment: in Japan he was a regular podium contender, and he’s now in the middle of three back-to-back races.

“These things come when they have to come,” he said, although he added: “For sure, it’s not in the best moment. Let’s see what is going on and how I can manage the whole weekend.”

Finally on the injury, Acosta gave some details on the timeline for his recovery.

“They say some weeks,2 he said. “Difficult to say how much, but, anyway, I feel quite a bit better, I improved quite a lot in the last couple of days.

“The problem was that I couldn’t put the arm [up].”

Coming to Thailand, Acosta — who finished second in last year’s Moto2 Thai Grand Prix to Fermin Aldeguer — is optimistic about his and KTM’s chances, with Brad Binder having crossed the line in second place last year just behind Jorge Martin, albeit losing a spot to Francesco Bagnaia after the flag for a last lap track limits violation.

“Last season, Brad [Binder] made a super-nice race,” Acosta said. “Also, it’s a track that could help us in the way that there is a lot of braking and a lot of acceleration.

“Let’s see how we start the weekend, and how we can manage.”