Does Pedro Acosta need to have a rethink after latest MotoGP crash?

Pedro Acosta says he may have to change his approach to MotoGP races after crashing out of the top five in Saturday’s Thailand Grand Prix sprint.

The 20-year-old was running in the podium battle early on in the 13-lap sprint as the leading non-Ducati rider.

But, while running fifth, Acosta crashed on lap four at Turn 3. He remounted his damaged KTM, but would later retire into the pits.

It marks Acosta’s fourth non-finish in a row, with the rookie not seeing a chequered flag since the Indonesian GP weekend.

Explaining what led to his Buriram crash, Acosta said: “Well, was a slight mistake.

“We make a small change in one thing of the bike and I was struggling a lot to stop the bike.

“I was a little bit out of line and a little bit sideways, and when it came the rear pushed the front. But we need to take the positives and thing to tomorrow.”

When asked if it had knocked his confidence having suffered so many crashes recently, he added:  “No, because in the end if the confidence was not there you are not able to really push with the front boys.

“It’s true that we need to start finishing races, because from the last 11 I finish four.

“We need to maybe go a little bit of a step back, go a little bit calm and maybe understand that sometimes a top five is not bad at all. We need to understand this.”

Acosta also suggests that to run with the leading Ducatis is contributing to his crashes because “they are riding at 95%” and “we have to go 100%”.

“Well, at the end they have more margin than us,” he said.

“For us, to go with them we have to go 100% and when you cross the line some days you can save and in others you cannot.

“Maybe they are riding at 95% and they have this 5% of margin.

“It’s normal that these things can happen.

“Maybe we need to be a little bit more calm and understand that a top five or a top six is a good result and start to finish races.”