Pedro Acosta: “We know how fast Maverick can be, he deserves it”

Pedro Acosta may have only finished eighth in the Qatar MotoGP but the Red Bull KTM star left Lusail in a far more upbeat mood.

Acosta was finally able to complete an “acceptable” race, without suffering from the chatter issues that have plagued KTM’s early season.

Despite dropping as low as 14th in the opening laps, Acosta was able to slice through the field to eighth, finishing as second-best KTM behind Maverick Vinales’ stunning ride to the podium (later annulled by a penalty).

“Much better,” Acosta said. “It’s true that we need to put this like an ‘acceptable race’, not good, because at the end, I was starting quite far.

“But anyway, I had completely the same feeling as last year. No chatter, no anything. So we showed that when we have not a lot of problems, we can be fast. For this, as I say, acceptable race. Happy.”

While some KTM riders experimented with different configurations to address the persistent rear-end vibration, Acosta confirmed there were no major technical changes to his RC16 on Sunday - just a welcome surprise.

“No, no change in the bike. We just went out today and the chatter was not there,” he explained. “I don't know if it was the tyre choice or what is going on, but anyway, it was super nice to ride the bike like this.”

Last year’s rookie star also heaped praise on Vinales, who came within two seconds of victory before a post-race tyre pressure penalty relegated him from second to 14th.

“Well, it’s easy,” Acosta said when asked how Vinales produced such a strong race. “At the end, we know that he’s super talented. With every bike that he jumped on he was able to try to win races.

“He was starting from sixth. First lap he was fourth, clean track around, not many bikes - only Marc, Pecco and Morbidelli at the beginning. We know how fast Maverick can be when everything’s on point.

“Today he was not having chatter, like me. For this he made a super good race. And like I said… we saw that when we don't have problems like this massive chatter, we can be as fast as the others.

“This is a good signal. I would like to be [do that kind of race] myself, but also I'm happy for him. He deserves it.”

Vinales ran a slightly different package on his Tech3 KTM, which Acosta acknowledged but opted not to switch to himself.

“I wanted to keep the current package I have. I was super comfortable today,” Acosta said. “At the end like I say, for me, the biggest penalty was in the starting position, if we compare the race with Maverick.

“It’s true that he had a super good pace. He was super fast here all weekend. For this I will not say that I will beat him, because he really made a great race to try to win.

“But today was a day to be in the top five. For this, good signals are coming.”

"Hats off to him"

The key now will be understanding why the chatter suddenly disappeared for some KTM riders on Sunday in Qatar and replicating it in this weekend’s Spanish MotoGP.

While Vinales and Acosta were able to produce strong races in Lusail, their team-mates Enea Bastianini and Brad Binder were left battling chatter and grip issues.

“Definitely the most difficult MotoGP weekend I've had in my career so far,” said Binder, promoted to 13th by the Vinales penalty.

“No matter what we tried, I never felt comfortable. I felt like if I didn't have massive chatter, I was washing the front. And if I wasn't washing the front, I felt like I was spinning like hell.

“I caught up to the group in front of me, and I thought I'd just keep that momentum going and then I started to get this massive understeer.

“And then I started to use more [lean] angle and then I had more chatter on the rear and then I was spinning like hell. And then I finished the rear tyre so early. So the speed is there, I just need to try and put it all together.

“We tried a lot of different things, but nothing really hit the points… It is what it is and looking forward to try again in Jerez.”

The South African agreed that Vinales’ performance was good for all the KTM riders.

“I know more or less what [his bike] differences are to us. And yeah, it's so good to see him do well.

“I think our entire project needed a really good result. So hats off to him. It's so cool to see him on the podium and for sure we can learn a lot from his data going forward.”