Pedro Acosta: “I am in the ideal place and in the ideal factory to have a long career”

The 2020 Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup and the 2021 Moto3 championship were also added to his record. The data speaks for itself and invites comparisons with six-time MotoGP World Champion Marc Márquez.

“I don’t think this is a very suitable backpack for me, especially for the first year of Moto2. I avoided having to do it well a year ago and will try not to do it again.” In his interview with Eph.

The Murcian pilot from Puerto de Mazarrón had surgery in Barcelona last week to remove a nail from the femur of his left leg and is currently recovering: “We had a week off, started training normally on Thursday and getting everything ready for the Malaysian tests in January We are going to Austria.

This is your second world title in three years and you are already being compared to Marc Márquez. What does this mean for you?

Both the media and the fans have expectations. All in all, I don’t think it’s a backpack that suits me very well, especially in the first year of Moto2. A year ago I unpacked my obligation to do this job well and will try to never have to do it again.

Now you arrive in MotoGP, what do you expect from this first season after the first test in Valencia?

I don’t expect anything, I think we are at the ideal moment and in the ideal factory to run a long race and get important results, but we need to take it easy and move forward slowly. Motorcycles have changed a lot, you have to learn a lot before you can be competitive and I think we are at the right time. We have people like Pedrosa, who is a tester in the Austrian factory, and thanks to their experience, learning will be faster.

What was Valencia thinking in this ‘box’?

I didn’t think much about it, I didn’t want to create expectations. I didn’t expect the bike to work so hard and the management of buttons and electronics to be so important. We come from a category like Moto2, where you do 22 laps at full throttle, and you can’t do that in MotoGP. The first day gave me a clear idea for the winter and I think we should be happy for the test day. The bike is very good, it will be competitive and the KTM project is quite interesting.

You became the Moto2 champion in your third year in the World Championship, did you ever see that title in danger?

I think we made mistakes at important moments of the year. I finally crashed at Le Mans (France) at the beginning of the year and then there was a 3 week break. I took advantage of three weeks to think about what happened, which made me want to deduct points. We were getting closer and closer, and in the end it was not just me, but also the team. Not every day is good, but even the team believed that we could win the World Cup… If they believed, how could I not!

Do you already have any plans for next season?

KTM has a project that does not only include motorcycles and racing. We’ve had a week off, we start training normally on Thursday (today for the reader), we’re going to Austria in January to prepare for the Malaysian tests. I’ll stay a little longer to prepare some things. I think it’s an interesting thing that KTM is betting on many types of motorcycles and, above all, MotoGP riders.

You said you’re not here to make friends, but does competing with such people give you any prestige? Pecco Bagnaia Or Marc Marquez?

In conclusion I still think I’m not here to make friends and I still think there’s a lot of nepotism in MotoGP. These are not Rossi’s old fights with Biaggi or tense press conferences and we need to be aware of that. There are a lot of wonderful and experienced people and we will have to take it calmly, but try to keep our heads together.

What would be a good result for you at the end of the 2024 season?

I’ve only been cycling for a day. We will try to stay calm and take our time to learn, which I think hindered me a bit from getting better results in my first year in Moto2. I’ll calm down and learn the basics first. When we achieve this, we will be competitive. No matter how hard I run, if I fall 20 times, I will lose a lot of time on the track. I think this will be useful for me in MotoGP.