Pedro Acosta: "There's something wrong with Marquez

The rising star Pedro Acosta doesn’t shine in front of the home crowd at Jerez. Out of the points in the Sprint, tenth place in the race, and an unusual feeling for the KTM rider: resignation. A weekend that started uphill on Friday and became even more complicated after contact with Raul Fernandez when the lights went out.

At the start of the long race, Pedro Acosta tangled with Raul Fernandez, sending part of the KTM RC16’s front fairing flying. The incident penalized him for the rest of the race, but he still managed to cross the finish line in tenth place. A result that leaves a bitter taste. "I’m glad it’s over," said the Murcian rider at the end of the Jerez GP. "We were hanging on for almost the entire weekend, except when it rained."

Acosta suffered, gritted his teeth, and adapted to tough internal and external conditions, managing to salvage what he could. A fully defensive round, where he watched Ducati return to the top. Conversely, a dip for the Austrian bikes and in his own performance. "The Ducatis are back where they were before, the Aprilias are still where they are... and we struggled more," admitted the Shark of Mazarron. "The bike isn’t so bad as to justify all these difficulties, so I’ll have to find something in my riding."

Pedro Acosta is paying close attention to what’s happening at Ducati, as he’ll be wearing the factory red colors next MotoGP season. He will team up with Marc Marquez, who also faced a rather tough Sunday. "When you’re used to riding the bike a certain way and you have to ride differently, when you push to the limit, it’s much harder." And then he said something thought-provoking: "After last year’s crash in Indonesia, he must have something wrong. It’s not normal to see Marc like this."

Marco Bezzecchi remains the championship leader, bolstered by a second place in the long race, confirming what we’ve seen since the start of the season. "Maybe earlier we took advantage of his mistakes in the sprints, but on Sundays he doesn’t miss. And that’s what’s establishing him as a world title contender," Acosta concluded. "If we want to get something, we’ll have to raise our game."