Pedro Acosta says he felt like a “cellular chicane” after Marc Marquez handed him for the lead and disappeared into the space on the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Acosta engaged in a tricky, if quick, scrap with reigning world champion Marquez at Balaton Park on Sunday, as a gap lap crash involving the Aprilias left them as the one victory contender.
The KTM rider appeared the stronger of the pair within the early levels after passing Marquez on lap 2 and constructing a buffer of over a second on Michelin’s smooth rubber.
However the Ducati star, operating the extra sturdy medium tyre, closed the hole simply earlier than the midpoint of the race and accomplished a move on the Flip 9/10 chicane.
Acosta instantly retaliated and snatched the place again into Flip 12, with the 2 even making contact as they exited the ultimate nook.
Nonetheless, when Marquez made one other transfer on Acosta on the chicane on the next lap, the 22-year-old had no reply – and needed to accept one other runner-up end.
Whereas Marquez’s victory was put all the way down to his renewed benefit in left-hand corners, Acosta defined how his countryman acquired an awesome run by way of Flip 8 to assault him into the chicane.
“Being sincere, we will talk about that he was weakest in the fitting ones [corners], however he was tremendous quick in Flip 8 and he was passing me as if I used to be a cellular chicane,” he stated.
“However I by no means hand over, and if he handed me, I attempted to move him again. The issue was that within the final [move] he blocked me after which I used to be already [too far behind]
“However anyway, it’s all the time good to battle with Marc. There have been some actually clear overtakes, some contacts but it surely was contained in the authorized facet.”
He added: “It’s all the time tremendous good to battle with the champ. It is by no means straightforward to attempt to re-overtake a man with Marc’s expertise. I loved it. I believe it is the third battle already that I misplaced [with him] – the second possibly.
“Anyway, if I maintain having this battle with Marc, it implies that we’re making an improved efficiency within the final couple of seasons.”
Regardless of clearly being the quickest rider inside KTM’s roster and registering some spectacular performances, a maiden grand prix win continues to elude Acosta.
The Spaniard began the 2026 season with a first-place end within the Buriram dash and has led a number of grands prix since then, however a wide range of elements have prevented him from profitable a Sunday race.
Requested if he felt he was nearer to changing into a MotoGP race winner, he stated: “It is a matter of making an attempt. Final 12 months, I used to be struggling so much in qualifying. Now I am coming again, being far more constant as a result of final 12 months I used to be crashing so much in these moments of the season.
“I believe we’ll arrive quickly. In the long run, it is a matter of making an attempt and a matter of maintain believing.”
Whereas KTM stays a step behind Aprilia and Ducati, which have shared all eight grands prix wins thus far in 2026, Acosta believes the progress the Austrian marque has made has allowed him to chop down on crashes.
“Final 12 months, if I attempted to do issues like that, I used to be usually crashing 80% of the time,” he admitted.
“It is true that the bike improved, but it surely’s fairly obscure why we had been struggling that a lot one week in the past [in Mugello] and right here we had been quick to struggle. We have now to know this as a result of if not it is fairly tough to enhance.”
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