Pedro Acosta admits KTM “achieved the best result possible” after clinching second place from the Malaysian MotoGP race on Sunday.
The KTM rider overcame his difficulties with tyre management to seal his fourth podium of the campaign behind race winner Alex Marquez.
The Spaniard spent the majority of the race battling with Francesco Bagnaia, who retired in the late stages due to a puncture, but overtook the Italian on Lap 13 of 20.
Acosta admitted he “accepted” that he was unable to challenge Marquez, but still “had fun” battling with Bagnaia.
“I knew it would be hard for us to manage the tyre, but I had the same plan as yesterday,” Acosta told GPOne.
“I wanted a good result, to stay as far in front as possible and try to follow Alex and Pecco [Bagnaia.
“You could see that Alex had more pace, especially at the beginning, but after that, I was able to lap like him.
“Only by that time, he was already too far away to hope to fight with him, so I just accepted it. I had fun today, even fighting a bit with Pecco.”
Despite Acosta admitting he could have been closer to Marquez had he not been stuck battling Bagnaia, he believed he achieved his maximum potential at Sepang.
“At one point, we passed each other between turns 9 and 10, and we lost a little time compared to Alex,” Acosta said.
“In any case, it’s true that maybe by passing earlier, I would have been able to stay closer to Marquez at the end of the race.
“The Ducatis had more traction out of the corners, so it would have been tough.
“I think we achieved the best result possible here.”
Pedro Acosta bemoans ‘aimless’ 2025 MotoGP season
Despite some recent form, Acosta has continued to complain about an “aimless” season aboard the KTM RC16.
KTM has struggled since its massive financial crisis in Summer 2024, and while the manufacturer has slowly restabilised, its four riders have struggled throughout 2025.
Although he had a slow start to the season, the Spanish rider highlighted how he has already improved on his tally from his rookie campaign.
“With fewer podiums, I already have more points than 2024,” Acosta said.
“After the summer break, I would say we didn’t make any big mistakes, we almost always took advantage of opportunities. Of course, we miss some opportunities.”
However, Acosta hinted at his dissatisfaction with KTM’s inability to fight for wins, emphasising “that’s not why” he is in MotoGP.
The 21-year-old also admitted that some difficult times help teams and riders get stronger.
“I would say that in any case the season hasn’t been good. At the moment, it’s like I’m aimless, I feel like I’m fighting for nothing and that’s not why I’m here in MotoGP.
“I would say that I’m finding some things that allow me to understand so much about MotoGP, about what it takes to be at the top all of the time.
“Difficult seasons have happened to so many riders and these difficult times are needed to step up and come back stronger.”
Discussion about this post