Pedro Acosta rued his crash in the MotoGP Sprint race at Motegi as “a stupid mistake” after it cost him a maiden victory in the premier class.
The rookie started on pole position for the first time in his MotoGP career and fell to third after Turn 1 before recovering to second by the end of Lap 1.
After following Francesco Bagnaia for a few laps, Acosta dived on his inside to lead proceedings, promoting himself back up to his original start position.
Acosta lost the front at Turn 5 with three laps remaining, consequently ending his chances of putting himself in the MotoGP winner’s enclosure.
“It was a stupid mistake on my part,” said Acosta (via Autosport). “I was a little bit off line… I came in a little more open and with a little more angle. Just a stupid mistake.
“This one hurts, but wrapped up in all the pain there are also positives. You have to see those positives as well as the negatives.
“I don’t make excuses; I look for solutions. So, we crashed but we were competitive today.
“We have to take the positive that I was fast today. We need to be happy that we have been fighting with these top four or five riders over the last few races, and that we know how we can improve.
“I’ve said before that I can win,” he reflected. “But then I’ve crashed out, like happened at Le Mans and like happened at Barcelona. But I never crashed out of the lead until now.
“Every time I qualify on pole, I crash out,” he joked.
Pedro Acosta reveals he wasn’t pushing harder than necessary
The 20-year-old revealed that he didn’t brake later into the flowing Turn 5, insisting that his entry was the same as it had been on any previous lap.
“I was just flowing, not trying to do anything different,” he said. “I was only trying to push in the areas where I was feeling comfortable: Turn 1, Turn 2 and Turn 4.
“But even before the race and before the crash, I was sliding in Turn 5. I was losing time there, but I wasn’t out of control.”
Bagnaia agreed with Acosta’s verdict, considering he had the best point of view in second place when the crash took place.
The Italian disclosed he intended to drop back further behind due to tyre pressures rather than it being assumed that Acosta was going beyond the limit.
“I think the front pressure was a bit too high,” explained Bagnaia. “Maybe because we started with a ‘safe’ pressure due to the [drizzly] conditions. So I struggled a bit when I was behind Pedro.
“As soon as I rolled off a bit to let the front tyre cool, he crashed. I don’t know what order we would have finished in, but I think he was doing a very good job.”
READ MORE: Pedro Acosta claims debut MotoGP pole in mixed Motegi conditions
