Pedro Acosta leaves the CoTA track at Austin in third place in the standings, with 60 points in the bag and another solid weekend behind him, during which he tried to battle the highly competitive Aprilia bikes of Bezzecchi and Martin on his KTM. The third step of the podium thus balances out the bitter taste of Saturday’s penalty. The “Shark” from Mazarrón, who had started the season with modest expectations of a top-five finish, now finds himself consistently fighting for the podium—a sign that the Spaniard’s undisputed talent is being complemented by a KTM that is beginning to show encouraging signs, even if, as Pedro admits , “there is still a long way to go.” What is certain is that Bastianini’s excellent performance this weekend promises to be another important arrow in Acosta’s quiver. Having been left to fight alone against rival manufacturers until now, the Spaniard can now look forward to the European rounds with the confidence of someone who feels he can finally achieve that much sought-after victory that has so far eluded him.
“I’m really happy,” Acosta stated, “and I have to thank KTM because I wrecked another bike in the warm-up; all the guys on the team and even those at Tech3 worked to fix it so I could have it ready. KTM had tried everything with Enea and it seems something worked, so we opted to use the same setup for me today as well; it helped me save the tyre a bit. I’m back on the podium after yesterday’s penalty; the goal at the start of the season was to stay in the top 5, but we’ve raised the bar and we’re managing to get podiums—we have to be happy about that.”
The battle started right away with contact with Aprilia’s Bezzecchi at Turn 11.
"Not the best way to start a race!" joked the Spaniard, "but that’s how races go. But I had to play my cards right, and one of them was to push hard right away and try to stay up front in the early laps. Though maybe with a full tank at that point, I pushed too hard—I went wide, and with the wind, it wasn’t easy to change my line. Luckily, now we can review the action and say everything turned out for the best."
After seeing them up close, what makes the Aprilias so competitive?
"It seems that Aprilia has found a way to corner better than the other bikes, even though the Ducatis are still competitive with one rider or another. The Aprilias are really consistent in their direction changes; neither Marco nor Jorge make any mistakes. It’s hard to chase them if you make mistakes, and that’s not even a strength of the KTMs."
So what does KTM need to improve?
"I’m very happy to have seen Bastianini take a big step forward; it’s not normal for a rider of his caliber to struggle so much, so I’m happy for him. He helped KTM and me improve over the weekend. That’s what we need—we need a setup that allows us to be as fast as Enea was this weekend; that would let us improve even further. The bike has taken a step forward since Thailand; it’s smoother now, but there’s still a long way to go, and I think we need to work on the top speed we’re still lacking. Aprilia and Ducati are still a step or two ahead of us.”
With this level of performance, which track could deliver the victory that’s still eluding you?
"Time will tell; every race is a question mark. Outside of Europe, the bike has performed well, and we’ve been able to keep pace with the Ducatis and Aprilias, but the reality is that we don’t have much to beat them. Even without aerodynamic damage, it would have been difficult to catch Bezzecchi; the Aprilias and Ducatis seem to adapt well to every circuit, so Jerez will be another question mark."
This was also your 100th race—are you going to celebrate?
"Pit’s (Beirer, ed.) credit card won’t be big enough for tonight!" the Spaniard quipped.