MotoGP: Pedro Acosta Laments Double-DNF At Motegi After Troublesome Weekend

Saajan Jogia | Oct 6, 2024

Apr 14, 2024; Austin, TX, USA; Pedro Acosta (31) of Spain and Red Bull Tech3 GASGAS before the MotoGP Grand Prix of The Americas at Circuit of The Americas. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images / Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

Red Bull GasGas Tech3 rider Pedro Acosta admitted that his second DNF of the Japanese Grand Prix weekend was hard to accept. After retiring in Saturday's sprint race, the rookie's struggles continued with a crash on Lap 3 at Turn 14 during Sunday's race at Motegi, compounding his frustrations.

What started off as a great weekend for the Spaniard, with his first pole position of the season following Marc Marquez's time deletion, Acosta looked to capitalize on the achievement through a sprint race victory.

However, while leading the race ahead of Francesco Bagnaia for nearly half the race distance, he crashed out of the race at Turn 7. A similar situation arose in Sunday's race, where he was placed in a comfortable second place before crashing his KTM RC16 MotoGP bike.

Speaking on the disappointing double DNF result, Tech3 team manager Nicolas Goyon claimed that there was much to learn from the mistakes. He told the media:

“We really felt we had everything in our hands to have one of our best weekends of the season.

“Pedro was happy with the bike and the way everything was working so the DNF today was tough, especially when fighting at the front.

“We have to learn from our mistakes and I’m sure this will make him a stronger rider.” 

Acosta admitted that it was his mistake, as he tried to shorten the gap to Bagnaia. He expressed that it was difficult to "accept the crash." However, the 20-year-old was willing to learn from his mistakes and try his best in Australia. He added:

“Well, I was just trying to prepare the way onto the main straight a little bit better because I was struggling a bit to be closer to Pecco to try an overtake.

“But anyway, it was a mistake from my side.

“For this, it’s difficult to say something. It’s true that it was super, super close. Let’s try again in Australia.

“For me, the feeling was really similar to yesterday. It’s difficult to accept the crash. Let’s try again in Australia because we are getting closer.”

Adding further optimism to the Australian Grand Prix at the Phillip Island Circuit in two weeks, he added:

“Well, feeling great this weekend.

“Australia is normally a track we are quite fast. We can see [what] Brad [did] last season for this.

“Let’s see how the asphalt is there and how the tyres are, because that’s going to be the question mark.”