Pedro Acosta reveals “problem with the front of the bike”, podium “in the bin”

Pedro Acosta crashed out of victory contention at the Catalunya MotoGP before remounting to score three points.

The KTM rider made a lightning start to the race and looked poised to challenge Jorge Martin and Francesco Bagnaia.

However, a crash at turn ten ended the rookie’s hopes of a maiden MotoGP win.

Discussing the incident, Acosta pointed to an issue with the bike, saying: “We had a problem with the front part of the bike and it’s not so clear at the moment.

“Again the bike was super competitive so nothing to say about the bike. It was not about the tyres.”

Le Mans and Catalunya were Acosta’s strongest weekends in terms of pace as he could have won both grand prix’ had he not fallen.

But despite failing to capitalise on his potential, Acosta remains content with the last two rounds.

Acosta added: “Le Mans and here were the only two weekends where I was consistently in the top.

“I was fast alone, I was about to pass people alone and I was able to make a normal qualifying alone.

“Aside from the crashes it was the two best weekends of the season. The bike was good enough to be on the podium.

“So for this I am quite angry to put a podium in the bin. The bike was competitive like hell.”

Acosta was one of four riders that elected to use the soft rear, including Marc Marquez who went from 14th on the grid to finish third.

Acosta, who had a big advantage over Marquez at the time of his fall, believes he would have finished ahead of the Ducati rider.

“Maybe Marquez overheated it a bit because he was at the back of the front group,” began Acosta. “I don’t know when but he lost more time overtaking the guys compared to yesterday.

“But for me it was the tyre to win. I’m not going to say I would have beat Pecco or Martin, but to be honest, with the pace that we had and the gap we had from Pecco to Marc, we were half a second faster. It was a pity.”