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Pedro Acosta puts his second medal of the season in the sprints around his neck with a third place, after his second in Jerez. It is the fourth result since the start of the championship for the Mazarron shark , who from the first bars of the race has been able to duel among the fastest on the treacherous Barcelona track, a circuit that today betrayed even Bagnaia and Pedro's brand mate, Binder. The Spaniard, who turned 20 today, thus gave himself another first taste of victory, which unfortunately faded in the latter stages of the race due to excessive tire wear and overheating. Closing, however, on the all-Spanish podium next to Aleix's Aprilia, which had announced retirement on Thursday, and an increasingly competitive Marc Marquez on the Ducati only underscores how much KTM's long-term commitment to Acosta is now bearing fruit. The Spaniard is now chasing his first championship win, and from the height of his 80 points in the standings, he is sixth, it now seems only a matter of time.
"It was a really challenging race," Acosta began, "the most difficult so far. As soon as you make a mistake with the gas you start sliding, you overheat the tire and you're done for. That's what happened to me today unfortunately, so I tried everything. However, it was also a good lesson ahead of tomorrow's long race."
What was the biggest obstacle today?
"The overheating of the front tire chasing Pecco and Binder, then I started to make mistakes in the line, I started to lose grip and from there on the problems piled up. Today everyone tried to stay in front right from the start to keep the front fresh, but whoever was in front then had trouble in the last sector and couldn't defend at the first corner. It was also quite tricky to manage grip in Turn 5."
Was there any way to respond to Marc's attack?
"To be honest I was preparing him for Turn 10, it would have been in a pretty safe spot, if I had gone wide I would have had the space to get back in. It's also true, though, that the gap to Martin was not a lot, and after seeing Pecco's crash I thought we had too much to lose today."
The KTM seems more competitive than the Ducatis here in Barcelona.
"When we have a lot of grip we often have to try to avoid vibrations. Here in fact we don't have them, the factory at the moment is working feverishly on this aspect."
Aleix said that when Raul and Brad were leading, it was impossible for them to maintain that pace.
"I won't say that for Brad, to be honest he wasn't that fast on the pace. As for Raul on the other hand I agree, he was running on 1'38''8 while everyone else was running on 1'39''3, he was half a second faster than us."
How do you explain Marc's comeback?
"I saw him trying to pass Aleix, he managed the tires better. Tomorrow we will have to manage everyone like he did."
In Le Mans you said you had the bike to win. Is it the same here in Barcelona?
"I hope so, although it is difficult to make predictions. The good thing is that we are getting closer. On this circuit the KTM last season had suffered, this year we are third. Taking away Bagnaia's fall we would have finished fourth, but 1-2 seconds from the winner is not a huge distance."
What expectations do you have for tomorrow's race? Today we also saw a lot of crashes.
"It will be the most difficult race of the championship, the grip is very bad and the management of the tires, especially the front, will be decisive. The crashes go to complicate it."
Today is your birthday, was this podium the best gift you could have given yourself?
"Yes without a doubt.
Today, however, maybe you were impatient to get your first win?
"I've been impatient since the first race, " the Spaniard later admitted , "we still got a podium, but it's normal to always want more.
Today you shared the podium with Aleix, who just two days ago announced that he will leave MotoGP at the end of the year.
"I think he deserved it, definitely one of the best ways to announce one's retirement."
Automatic Translation by DeepL
