After exceptional performance achieved by rookie Pedro Acosta during shakedown MotoGP in Sepang, we had the chance to get the reaction of the boss of the Red Bull GASGAS Tech3 team, Hervé Poncharal.
This is interesting because, in addition to having a certain experience built over four decades of presence in the Grand Prix paddock, his team has generally been assigned the task of introducing rookies to MotoGP since its collaboration with KTM . For a team that has already been world champion in 250 and victorious in MotoGP, this is a fairly thankless exercise, but which sometimes brings some pleasant surprises...
Hervé Poncharal, we are not getting carried away but your rookie Peter Acosta sparked during the Shakedown in Sepang…
Hervé Poncharal : “Yes, he made the sparks (laughs)! Frankly, you see, I spoke with everyone, I spoke with Nico (Goyon), I spoke with Sterlacchini (Fabiano, technical director of KTM), I spoke with all his mechanics, I spoke with Valera (Albert), his personal manager, and Pedro, this young man, This rookie is truly incredible!
We can nevertheless say thatwe have some experience of receiving rookies and making them debut in MotoGP. If you look at what has happened almost since 2021, we have a certain experience given the position we have at Pierer Mobility, and given the involvement of Pierer Mobility through the Rookies Cup, Moto3, Moto2, we still have the vocation to receive the nuggets that come out of the small and intermediate classes. So we still have some experience in this area, and all the riders we received were big names, because they were all Moto2 champions or vice-champions, but then you realize that 'We have a particular caliber! We really have someone different. In some ways, it's perhaps Miguel Olivera that he reminds me of the most, among the rookies we had. I don't want to say that they are the same, but there are certain aspects that are similar.
What I like about Pedro, and what everyone has told me too, is above all someone who is very intelligent, an intelligence about life: he is extremely mature, you are amazed by the perspective he already has when you talk about racing, even though he is only 19 years old. And that’s really something that sets him apart from the other rookies we’ve had. This approach very humble too, despite the incredible track record he already has. And I like humble people. I have always tried to have a humble attitude. That doesn't mean not having ambition, but being humble, respecting people, not arriving by rolling your shoulders, puffing out your chest and lifting your chin. We see when he's a good person, when the guy comes home, he speaks the same way to his chief mechanic or to the guy who makes his tires. Not everyone behaves like that.
And perhaps most importantly with maturity, he wants to create a group.
There, he still spent 3 years in a group with his team, and which worked well, given the results he achieved in Moto3 and Moto2, and there he arrives in a completely new group with only one person who followed, it's the person who takes care of his tires and his gasoline, otherwise everyone is new to him. And I saw it as soon as we arrived in Valencia for the first laps of the wheels, you see that his priority is to know everyone, it is to be close to each individuality of his team . Every day (in Sepang) he insisted on having dinner with them, and he doesn't come to dinner quickly and then leaves. No, they spend time constantly, they chat, they exchange, he asks everyone on the team their profile, what they have done too, he talks about his life, his experience. And for me, that's something that sets it apart from the others. And when you look at the great champions, Rossi still had a group for a very long time, Doohan had a group, Marquez wanted to create his group, and I think that is one of the things that is very important. It may seem like a detail like that when we're discussing, but that, I like it, because it fits perfectly with my state of mind, in the state of mind of Tech3, of what we want to convey: family, team, human relationships, you see. Because we knew some who arrived 10 minutes before the start of the session, or sometimes less, and who 1/4 hour after their debriefing, we didn't see them again until the next day! Maybe you can do it like that, but in any case it's more difficult. So I love that!
And above all, you have the impression that talent is really natural, you honestly have the impression that he doesn't force, that it comes by itself. He doesn't bother when he arrives wanting to do times, this, that
You would have told me that he would be first after the 3 days of shakedown where there are still the 2 official Yamahas, the 4 official Hondas, plus in the test riders, there are still Pol Espargaro, Dani Pedrosa , Cal Crutchlow, these are still big names who know Sepang like the back of their hand, while for him these are his first laps at Sepang with a MotoGP, Michelins, carbon brakes, et cetera, I don't you wouldn't really have believed it. And during the 3 days he was in front, even if he was not the first, he was in any case very close to the leaders.
And also, as I told you yesterday, pilots often do a time but a little bit in apnea, closing their eyes you see, and between the best and the 2nd best time, there is a lot of difference. While he he has an ability when he runs to be very, very close every lap: if you look at T1, T2, T3, T4, it matches, it matches, it matches! So you see that things are done methodically, and that he is not above his pomp.
All that to say, if we want to summarize, everyone is obviously super impressed by the performances, but I would also say, everyone is under the man's spell! «
OK, he brings a smile to everyone in the team and at the factory, and undoubtedly extra energy and extra motivation. But you were talking about your experience, and you also know that the Shakedown is just the shakedown…
“That’s why I told you yesterday “be careful!” Here, we are talking after 3 days of shakedown, where there is not the entire field and where there are a lot of people, I am thinking of Fabio, Rins, Mir, Johann et cetera, certainly did not focus on the clock. They tried a lot of things that the extra concessions to which they are entitled allow them to be able to be more efficient from the first race which is Qatar. So I completely agree: we are happy to see that it is performing well, and I'm not going to hide from you that it's a little pleasure to finish the first 3 days, but we know very well that it doesn't mean much compared to the first race. We know very well that we are not going to take pole and win in Qatar, I would never say that, never. Yes, we have to completely put everything into perspective, and I'm putting it into perspective, I'm the first to say it, let's not get carried away, it's the shakedown, when a Fabio, a Rins, a Johann, go looking for the time, and then when the others will arrive, Martin, Bagnaia, Marquez, when they push, we will perhaps meet again for a second and a half. But what I'm saying is incredible maturity, approaching the race really like an old veteran, but a good old veteran, an intelligence to motivate and create this group. All this is very exciting, and also 58.1, it’s still a time that holds up! Last year Marini left after the 3 days of testing in the lead with 1'57.889. So maybe the track is extra good and in two days they will be racing in 55 (laughs), and I'm not focusing too much, neither on the fact that he is first, nor on the fact that we have is 58.1, but we are not choosy either and we are simply very happy!
We never launched Pedro either, becausewe definitely don't want him to get hurt, telling him “you have two new tires, go for it!”. We never told him that, we always tell him “we’re here to work, we’re here to learn, try to understand all the devices. Try to understand how Michelins work, carbon brakes, you know all that. So it's clear that the others didn't focus on the clock, but I promise you that we didn't either. But it’s nice!”
