MotoGP rookie Pedro Acosta says that he needs to rein in his ambitions somewhat in the final five races of the season, after yet another crash - out of the sprint at the Thai Grand Prix - means that he has now seen the chequered flag for the Tech3 Gas Gas team in only four of the last 11 races.
By far the fastest of the riders on the four KTM-powered machines on the grid, Acosta nevertheless currently sits 12 points behind 2025 team-mate and current factory rider Brad Binder in the standings - largely thanks to the 20-year-old’s dramatic inconsistency in the latter half of the season, with frequent crashes very much the hallmark of his debut season so far.
Those crashes are, in large part, seemingly coming from an obvious place: the Spaniard trying to over-ride the Gas Gas-branded KTM RC16 bike in order to keep up with the series’ utterly dominant Ducatis right now - and Saturday at Buriram was no different for Acosta.
Acosta's barren run
Japanese GP sprint: Crashed from lead
Japanese GP: Crashed from second
Australian GP sprint: Crashed from 11th
Australian GP: Absent through injury
Thai GP sprint: Crashed from fourth
Inserting himself into the battle for the podium early in the Buriram sprint, Acosta was the only non-Ducati rider to look in any way competitive - until disaster came on the fourth lap and he ended up in the gravel, leaving Ducati’s eight machines to lock out the top eight for the first time ever.
But with that domination by the Italian factory - something Acosta, like many, feels is in large part down to its eight-bike presence on the grid and the data this generates - comes increased risk for Ducati's rivals as they struggle to keep up.
“At the end, they have more margin than us,” Acosta said of the Ducatis, having avoided injury in the crash.
“For us to go with them, we need to push at 100%, and when you cross the line sometimes you can save it and some days you cannot. Maybe they’re riding at 95%, and they have this 5% of margin.
“It’s normal that these things can happen, but now we maybe need to be calm and understand that a top five or top six is a good result in the last races.”
And while he’s maintained a devil-may-care attitude so far in his rookie season, that might be starting to change for the final races of the year, perhaps in part aided by the punishing crash in last weekend’s sprint at Phillip Island that dislocated his shoulder and ended his weekend early.
He has largely recovered from that injury in terms of riding, but expects to still feel the pain from the crash in the coming weeks.
And the rest of 2024, he says, may well be a case of managing expectations before he sets about to work over the winter with KTM to ensure a more competitive machine as he graduates to factory colours for 2025.
“In the end, the confidence was there,” he insisted even after the recent run of bad form, “because if it’s not then you’re not really able to push with the front boys.
“It’s true that we need to start to finish races, because in the last 11 I’ve finished four. We need to maybe step back and be a little more calm.
“To understand that sometimes a top five isn’t bad at all.”
The relatively close race for fifth (and top non-Ducati) in the championship standings might be affecting that view somewhat, too, with Binder (who couldn’t manage better than a single point in ninth on Saturday) still very much within touching distance with 99 points left to play for.
