Pedro Acosta after strong Spielberg training: "It's only Friday, no pressure"

– To the delight of the KTM team, Pedro Acosta dominated the training day at the Austrian Grand Prix. CEO Gottfried Neumeister is also present at the home race. And what he saw made him happy. Already in the morning training, when it was cloudy and cool, only Acosta went under 1:30 minutes.

When the sun appeared over Spielberg in the afternoon training, Acosta dominated both the race pace and the qualifying attempt. With 1:28.381 minutes, the 22-year-old set the best time of the day.

Marc Marquez was two tenths of a second behind with his Ducati and took fourth place. Right behind him was Aprilia factory rider Jorge Martin in fifth. Marco Bezzecchi ended Friday only in ninth (+0.430 seconds).

For Acosta, it was a perfect Friday at the important KTM home race. “Yes, I am satisfied,” he says about his training performance. “The team worked pretty well. It is a good starting point for our KTM home race.”

“I am quite happy. However, it is true that we still have some struggles in the third sector with this long right turn 5 and then the long left turns 6 and 7.”

“We are trying to improve there because Brad [Binder] was really impressive out there,” Acosta refers to his teammate, who qualified directly for Q2 as seventh.

Acosta was only fastest in the first sector. In the second, Ai Ogura (Trackhouse-Aprilia) was just ahead of Acosta. In the third sector, he was just behind Alex Marquez (Gresini-Ducati), Binder, and Martin, only fourth.

Also in the last sector, Ogura was slightly faster than Acosta. If Acosta had combined his ideal sector times, his optimal lap time would have been two tenths of a second faster than his actual best time.

Acosta does not want to write off Ducati and Aprilia

This shows that Acosta still has room for improvement, especially in the third sector. However, after an overall good Friday, he does not want to speak of dominance yet: “It is only Friday. I don’t know.”

“Let’s wait and see how Ducati and Aprilia improve tomorrow. Aldeguer is fast, Ogura was fast, and last year Bezzecchi was extremely fast. Aldeguer showed a really strong race pace. So: no pressure.”

KTM does not really have a home advantage at the Red Bull Ring, as they have not tested privately on this track for several years. Spielberg is also not part of the test tracks KTM has nominated.

“We don’t have a new motorcycle this weekend,” confirms KTM motorsport director Pit Beirer. “But we have used the time intensively to bring small improvements.”

“We had parts in Aragon, we had parts in Misano, and we also worked on the motorcycle setup for each track.” Acosta recently praised that KTM now takes more risks when changing the setup.

Beirer confirms this as well: “Since Aragon, we have taken a direction that differs from all previous years. This has opened a new working window for us, and that is exactly what we are refining.”

“The whole team has busted their asses in recent weeks to help him because at the moment – as much as it pains me to say it – he is the only one among the guys who can clearly and precisely tell us what he wants.”

“And with every little part we can provide him in this direction, he gets even stronger. When he exchanges with us after every session, it is crystal clear what the next step is, what he needs, and what he wants.”

And that is why Acosta was able to get on the podium recently at MotorLand Aragon and in Misano. “That makes him so strong in the overall package,” raves Beirer. “And yes, he is just really good.”

Espargaro explains why Acosta is so fast in Spielberg

Test rider Pol Espargaro, who again represents Maverick Vinales in the Tech3 team, can precisely explain why Acosta left the strongest overall impression in the field on this training day at the Red Bull Ring.

“In my opinion, two factors come together here,” explains Espargaro. “On the one hand, the hard braking, in which Pedro is outstanding and shows extremely strong performances, and on the other hand, the low grip level.”

“These two points cause the braking phases to become extremely tricky. The front wheel constantly locks up, and that makes life damn hard for us. Pedro is exceptionally strong when decelerating and on the brakes.”

“When there is little grip, it only makes the situation more difficult for everyone else.” Will Spielberg be the place where Acosta wins his first MotoGP race with KTM?

He has achieved 15 podiums so far. Acosta is the rider with the most podiums without a win in the history of the premier class. “Yes, of course we dream of it,” says Beirer, “but you can’t just talk something into existence.”

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