Before resuming MotoGP at Silverstone, we were able to collect the results ofHervé Poncharal, the man with two hats who chairs the IRTA and leads the Tech3 team which runs the rookie Peter Acosta.
This allows him, in addition to his four decades of experience in the paddock, to have a global vision of the past, the present and where we are heading with the planned arrival of Liberty Media, but also to explain why Pedro Acosta never ceases to amaze him… Let’s take advantage of it!
Let's come to Pedro Acosta. So seen from outdoors, it's a genius
extraterrestrial, not a
meteorite
by
thaton
hope
which
it
va
last,
doing more
a rookie
unbelievable,
immediately at a level
of the strongest, who does not tombs
to
et
is
leaves
for
fightsthree:
for the podium or more. And and, from Le Mans, il tombs
a little and
misses races it
aurait
almost
pu
Win, before coming in a little in the row although appearing
always
in the top 10. Whyuh?
It is
Experience
, here
makes him take his time?
Hervé Poncharal : “So I'm going to say, I'm going to tell you one thing, the first thing is that I have always said and I have always hated gentlemen “I know everything”. I always said that I was not Mr. “I know everything”, and I find Gabin's famous song fabulous, “The more we advance, the more we know that we know nothing”. I, from the outside, am therefore not going to explain in a rational manner in relation to your question. Pedro Acosta, he is indeed an incredible talent, like at the moment we are talking about Léon Marchand, an incredible phenomenon whoFrance has in swimming. Pedro Acosta, there have been some phenomena, but it's still been a few years since we've seen a rookie who was so phenomenal. He had winter testing and a fantastic start to the season, he played a lot, a lot, a lot with the limit, and he had a lot of saves, rescues at the start of the season, and then the first do not finish ” important where there was a big move to make, as you said, it was at the French Grand Prix. He was on cloud nine for the race, we had adjusted things well compared to what he had done at the Sprint, and then, well, we're not going to do race by race but at Le Mans he told me that When he came upon Di Giannantonio and Aleix Espargaro at the green garage, he was surprised by the fact that he was braking so early. And he didn't want to pass them straight away but he was forced to shift, he dove between the two so as not to put them down and he fell. And he told me “it was a mistake on my part but I was so good on the bike and I was surprised because they were, for me, slow”. So it always makes you smile to hear that Di Giannantonio and Aleix Espargaro are slow, but there you go, he was surprised, so first mistake. Afterwards, in Barcelona he had a fabulous race and he made a small mistake by following Jorge Martin, even though Martin had said “I couldn't get rid of him, he was stuck to me”. He was 2nd at that time, he had just made a podium the day before in the sprint and we could win this race! But there you go, he kept his brakes a little on a small bump, he took a millimeter of different trajectory, and at this level, it doesn't matter. don't forgive. But until that moment, these are the two “do not finish” but in terms of performance each time, it is potentially a podium and a potential battle for victory.
And then Mugello, Assen, Germany, frankly yes, it's a little more complicated. I think that the Ducati remains the technical package which is certainly a cut above. On certain circuits we can play on an equal footing, and we saw in particular in Austin that Aprilia and the KTM were rather better than the Ducati there, or in any case we were on a level playing field with it. On the other hand, their strength is that they are very, very good everywhere, and that we iThere are circuits on which we are on an equal footing with them, there are other circuits where we lag behind a little. And it's true that we also had some weather hazards, a bit in Mugello, we didn't have much, much, much time to ride. We thought that in Assen we would be much better but we also had some small weather hazards and problems which meant that we didn't complete the number of laps. There you go, there were a few little things that meant that we didn't have weekends that went as they should have, and that's paid in cash eh, that's places of 6, of 7, and we find it a little disappointing. Afterwards, even if you do 6 and 7, and you're a rookie and you see your level, it's fabulous! We must not forget that there are 8 Ducatis and 4 Aprilias on the grid. But it's true, I'm not going to go against what you said and try to explain the inexplicable. Pedro, before, everything he did was magical, and there was 0 pressure. Even though he wouldn't like me to say it, and I hope he won't read Paddock-gp, he wouldn't like me to say it, and he says no, but I think he's starting to feel in the shoes, perhaps not of a favorite but of a “podiumable” each Grand Prix, and he is the first in the Pierer Mobility class, so automatically you have responsibilities, you have desires, you place the cursor higher than at the start of the year.
Hervé Poncharal Pedro Acosta
And it's not easy every day and. And yes, we found ourselves confronted with problems of development or adaptation that we did not envisage, whether at Assen or at the Sachsenring. But again, it wouldn't have been bad, but it's so tight that we honestly thought it would be better. There were also small weather hazards, so we didn't do too many laps. It's not really an excuse, but there you go, we were a little more difficult, but I think it's also more linked to the fact that the Ducati... Then wait, you have Pecco Bagnaia, Marquez, Bastianini, Martin , in front. So we've stalled a bit but I don't think Pedro has lost his luster and his aggressiveness. But he also understood that he had to finish the races and therefore the two little alarms of Le Mans and Barcelona, he still has them in his head because he roughly calculated the points he lost if he had kept his position instead of having fallen.
But I think we have to continue working. At Pierer Mobility, they know it, they work hard. But once again when you have 8 bikes, 8 riders, you progress faster than when you have 4. And talk to Yamaha, you progress faster when you have a 4 than when you have 2. Either way, we won't be world champions this year. We will be better rookie, OK, he's the only one. And I hope that he continues the second part of the season like what he did in the first part, and he will have made a fantastic rookie zone that we can put in the annals. And he can still win a race, not only a Sprint but even a Grand Prix. He can win a Grand Prix by the end of the year. He can ! I didn't say he was going to win but he can do it. But today, things are progressing very, very quickly and we are rather in preparation for 2, where there will be an incredible line-up at Pierer Mobility, with Brad Binder – Pedro Costa on one side, and Vinales and Bastianini on the 'other side. So we have to continue to improve the technical package, perhaps not in absolute performance on certain circuits, where we are very very good, Austin, Barcelona, Le Mans et cetera, but we have to be more at level of Ducati everywhere. That's it, and we need to work on that. But I sincerely think that next year, I'm not going to sell the dream for the moment because there are still a lot of races to do in 2025, but when you see that there will be 24 Yamahas, very very very very very very good news for Fabio and Yamaha, when you see that there will be 2 Ducatis less, and that they have lost 3 emblematic riders who are Bastianini, Bezzecchi and Martin, when you see that on the Pierer side Mobility, they recovered a Vinales and a Bastianini, I think the grid should be more homogeneous and balanced in 25.”
Pedro Acosta is 6th at the moment, just ahead of Brad Binder, 15 points behind your future driver Maverick Vinales, and ahead there is still your future driver Bastianini. Can reasonably aim for a top 5?
“Like you said, huh, it’s excessively tight huh. There are a lot of points to distribute, but more than a place overall, yes, a top 5 would be fabulous, even a top 6 somewhere. But what we have to do is continue to perform. And I, like Pedro, want to fight for podiums in every race, in every sprint and in every Grand Prix. And the final place is somewhere less important. Regardless of whether you finish 4, 5 or 6 at the World Cup, frankly the place that counts is Number One, and Pedro Acosta will not be world champion in 2024, that's for sure! On the other hand, we still have a lot of races left to be on the podium, and then, why not, be on the top step.
You know, Pedro, after Germany, most of the pilots said they were going on vacation. Pedro asked if there were people in Austria. TAll the bosses, Pit Beirer and company, plus all the engineers said “yes, we’re there”.
– So get me a ticket and Monday morning, post Sachsenring, I go up to Austria. Get me a ticket. There, and back, I'll see when I book it, I don't want it right now. And he went up there to meet everyone. So he still sees himself as a leader, not a conductor but he really wants to talk, discuss, explain to them what he needs to be in front more regularly, explain to them what the problems he has met on the last circuits, notably Assen and Sachsenring, to explain to them the feeling he perhaps had at the start of the season, notably at Portimao and Austin where he was on the podium. So you see that he is still someone who is super involved. Already he is very happy to be at Pierer Mobility and to be Red Bull KTM, finally to be Red Bull GASGAS this year, to be Red Bull KTM Factory next year. He would never have signed anywhere else, he told us that. He has total confidence in his family, which is the Pierer Mobility family, but he believes that everyone has to work, and so he went up to see all the people who were developing the engines, he went up to see the people who worked on electronics, who worked on aero, who worked on suspensions, because you have the whole WP department there. He wanted to see them, meet them, introduce himself to be in more direct contact with them, and also to each of them, explain to them what he felt. That doesn't happen often and it's fabulous that it was the initiative of the pilot and that he said “Holidays are not my problem at the moment and I prefer to go to Austria to the racing department rather than to go strutting around, in quotes, on a yacht in the middle of the Mediterranean with bimbos”. VSshows, the profile, the involvement of a pilot, and nothing is done without work, without exchange. In this profession, you have to work, you have to exchange and you must not be afraid to exchange, to re-exchange, to split hairs in 4, in 10, in 1000, in 2000, and you must not say
“Ah no but that’s a detail”. No, no, no, and Pedro, he is very good at feeling on the bike and then explaining his feelings on the bike. Frankly. Even though he is a rookie, you see the field of technicians who are in front of him after each test session and after each race. They listen to it religiously and it's true, I'm not sensationalizing. »
Hervé Poncharal Pedro Acosta
Hervé Poncharal Pedro Acosta
Hervé Poncharal Pedro Acosta
Hervé Poncharal Pedro Acosta
