Peter Acosta is a phenomenon. It begins this year in MotoGP under the colours of Hervé Poncharal's Red Bull GASGAS Tech3 team and continues to amaze the paddock with his performances, as he did again today at the Indonesian Grand Prix.
Starting from the front row in third position, the Spanish rookie kept his place until the third lap where he overtook Enea Bastianini, then focusing on trying to catch Jorge Martin at the head of the race.
The only KTM rider among the Ducati Desmosedici GP 24s, he didn't make it, but on a circuit he was new to in the premier class, he managed to contain most of them by finishing just 1,4 seconds behind the winner. A new feat worthy of the reputation of this young shark who devotes his life to MotoGP, but there you have it, barely after crossing the finish line, the message indicating that he was under investigation regarding the pressure of his front tire reduced to nothing all the joy he could have drawn from his brilliant result.
Indeed, until now, each time such a message has occurred, the driver concerned has been penalized by the addition of 8 (Sprint) or 16 (GP) seconds to his final result. Suffice to say that for Pedro Acosta, the sanction was hardly in doubt, and even if the person concerned boldly declared "I won't worry until it's confirmed" in the press conference, he naturally looked gloomy on the podium, carefully avoiding smiling and opening his bottle of Prosseco. Pedro Acosta is really not the type to pretend, and after giving his all for 27 laps and being certain that the French team was not playing with the limit, we can perfectly understand his attitude…
But in the end, the verdict of the FIM MotoGP stewards would fall in his favour, because far from blindly applying the fixed rule of a minimum of 60% of the laps, they immediately saw that the data analysed showed a slow but constant drop in the pressure of the front tyre.
Normally, when a team "plays" with the minimum pressure (and we remind you that even if it was lowered this year from 1.88 bar to 1.8 bar, the teams are obliged to do so in anticipation of the natural increase due to use), it fluctuates according to braking, acceleration and whether the driver is in the slipstream of another or not.
In the case of number 31, the pressure was dropping slowly but continuously, which indisputably indicated a micro air leak in the front wheel. Slow puncture or faulty valve, only those who immediately plunged it into a tub of water to see the bubbles come out know (because it did happen), but ultimately it doesn't matter because, for once, the FIM MotoGP stewards were convinced that there had been no error or desire to play with the limit, and did not apply any sanctions, even if this did not please the official Ducati team...
"The Technical Director indicated during the race that Acosta's front tire pressure was under investigation. After conducting post-race checks, the pressure was correct at the start of the race and the loss of pressure during the race was found to be due to a leak at the rim. The Technical Director, in conjunction with the official tire supplier, determined that there was no rule violation, as per Article 2,4,4,9,1 of the Technical Regulations."
Such an intelligent decision (and Michelin, consulted, is obviously not a stranger to it) deserves to be welcomed as it should be, and one can only regret that this is not always systematic!
Pedro Acosta has therefore found his smile again and can now celebrate his podium as he should, already impatient to be in Japan to confront the best again...
Acosta Indonesia MotoGP
Acosta Indonesia MotoGP
