Crowned with a dazzling career and two world titles, Peter Acosta, only rookie of the 2024 season MotoGP, made his move to the premier Grand Prix category under the media spotlight.
Great hope for the pinnacle of motorcycle racing, we follow it as best as possible and, after having collected his words in Valencia for his first day of testing among the big boys, we find it here after a shakedown in Malaysia that he dominated, on the evening of its first day of official IRTA testing.
What was his progress for this 5th day of driving on the RC16 of the Red Bull GASGAS Tech3 team, but only the second with all the starting drivers? Let’s listen to it…
As usual, we report his words here without the slightest formatting.
How do you feel after these five days, and what is it like for you, as a beginner, to start testing new parts for development?
“I was happy to try the black and white design, it looked very nice on the bike. It was good, but for me the most important thing is that every time we enter the track we are at the same level as the previous day, automatically, and also we improve the pace, which was quite important for me because, OK in the second day of the shakedown, we were more or less 2'00 in race pace, and now we are able to be in the 1'59. We are on track for this.
To talk about the new development stuff, they want me to try, so they put them on the bike and I try. It's part of the job, you know. But I didn't really think about it, because ultimately it's not my job at the moment, I just have to focus on progressing every day and trying to improve every time I go out with the bike. »
Pedro, was the plan to try new things during the test or did the plan change because you seemed pretty comfortable?
“No, in the end we try things, but just for me, you know, to figure out how to ride the bike behind all the other bikes, to try to figure out how to be fast. I think when you have a good base, the difference between going to Q2 and Q1 is the fact that you can make changes between FP1 and the afternoon practice. For this we are just trying to understand these things to be as well prepared as possible before the Qatar GP. »
You mentioned that you were now going to follow other pilots. Do you see things that you still need to improve?
“Well, I followed the guys I saw around the track, but they also let go. Because of that, I haven't spent too much time behind anyone. But anyway, it was good to be behind Jack, to be behind some Aprilias, just to understand how the wind affects you when you're behind, because I had heard a lot about that, that if you were behind, the suction would come towards you and that sort of thing, blah blah blah. But I just wanted to understand these things more than the lines and these things because I see that between the other manufacturers and GASGAS, the lines are very different and the way they ride is very different. That’s why I focused on myself. »
It's very hot here, a very hot track. With used tires, how is the bike? Is it fun?
“It becomes quite difficult to understand, because if you push even more, it doesn't mean you're going to be fast, you know, because if you're too aggressive, the anti-wheelies kicks in, the anti- slippage is triggered, the power limitation is triggered. For this, you sometimes have to understand that you don't have to ride with your heart but rather with your head to be as fast as before, you know, because with all these movements you start to be slower, slower , slower, and also you start to get more tired because you are spending more energy fighting with the bike. To be honest, I also felt more deterioration of the tire compared to the shakedown. For me, in tire management, we must also try to be good. »
You mentioned in Valencia that you wanted to modify your fitness program somewhat, to build muscle. Did you manage to do it and how do you feel?
" Yes, it's true. Now we're 4 kilos heavier than before, but for me, I'm still 2 kilos short, because now I'm at 63, 63 ½, and I want to be at 65.
As for the rest, I mean, no compartment syndrome, no arm pain, no back pain, no leg pain. For that, it was very good. »
18th, 1,223 seconds behind the fastest Maverick Vinales in Valencia for his contact with MotoGP, Peter Acosta then seems to have benefited well from the three days of shakedown that he dominated, since he was then 2nd, 0,269 seconds behind George Martin at the end of this first day of testing.
In terms of timing, the driver of the French team is then in 1'58.220, while the three days of shakedown resulted in the following three times: 1'59.385, 1'58.531 and 1'58.189.
Results from the first day of testing at Sepang:
Classification credit: MotoGP.com
To be continued…
