– Pedro Acosta (KTM) and Fabio Di Giannantonio (VR46-Ducati) provided an entertaining duel in the final phase of the French Grand Prix. Acosta had held a podium position for a long time and was second after the crash of Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati).
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But Aprilia was also stronger than KTM in Le Mans. Acosta was initially overtaken by Jorge Martin and then by Ai Ogura (Trackhouse). This left the Spaniard only fourth, but he was not going to keep this result.
Because in the last lap, Acosta was overtaken by Di Giannantonio, which he did not like at all: “No one overtakes me and looks at me while doing it. I’ll remember that for next time.”
But basically, Acosta is annoyed about his own mistake that cost him this position: “I thought Di Giannantonio was closer than he actually was, and I focused too much on defense.”
“And that backfired because he overtook me in the end.” As fourth, Di Giannantonio was once again the best Ducati rider. He draws a parallel to Moto3 with this overtaking maneuver against Acosta.
“I wanted to overtake him in turn 9,” the Italian explains. “I prepared the attack there because I came out of turn 8 really well in the previous lap. But in this lap, I came out very poorly.”
“After that, I told myself: invent something, and quickly. I remembered one of my best overtaking maneuvers from 2018 in Moto3, which I had done exactly there.”
“I just tried to repeat it. It wasn’t that difficult, but for me, of course, it was still difficult.” Acosta had not expected this maneuver in the first of the two right-handers of the last corner.
Acosta draws comparison to Aprilia
“Clearly, we were not able to fight for the podium compared to the Aprilias,” the KTM rider concludes. “They set a pace that is scary, especially Martin and Ogura, who came from behind.”
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“You have to be realistic about where you stand and be satisfied because it is my best result in Le Mans since I have been in MotoGP. In the end, one position more or less would not have made a big difference.”
“We have to keep going and better understand our potential. I am still satisfied because overall it was my best weekend in Le Mans, as I usually crash in one session or another.”
“In this respect, I am quite satisfied. I am also satisfied because the start was quite good, and the first ten to twelve laps were quite good. Until then, the pace was okay.”
“I am happy because the bike seems to be better than in Jerez.” Nevertheless, KTM is only the third force in the field behind Aprilia and Ducati. Acosta sees a significant difference in the handling of the rear tire.
“I mean, it is true that Aprilia apparently found something. But I would not call tire management our biggest problem. We have to try to have a more stable bike when leaning into the corners.”
“It seems like Aprilia found something extraordinary to lean into that first corner so quickly – like turn 1, turn 6, turn 7. It was crazy to watch them from behind. But we are on the right track.”
After five race weekends, Acosta is fourth in the world championship, one point behind Di Giannantonio. The second-best KTM rider in Le Mans was Enea Bastianini in seventh place. Brad Binder retired due to a crash. Replacement rider Jonas Folger finished 16th after his crash in the sprint.
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