KTM factory rider Pedro Acosta reckons he may have been trying too hard aboard the RC16 before he found consistency in recent races.
Speaking ahead of this weekend’s Malaysian Grand Prix, the Spaniard expanded on his recent improvements as a rider, particularly on the mental side. He had already touched on the subject in Indonesia three weeks ago, when he said he was “a more mature rider”.
Warming to the theme in Malaysia, Acosta underlined that although the KTMs had shown improvements since the summer break, the work he had done on himself was the biggest factor in his improved consistency.
“If you check the bike, we haven’t changed that much,” said the 21-year-old, who is in his second season in MotoGP. “We changed the fairing in Austria. It’s true that there we started to be more consistently inside the top five, but I think what changed the most was my mental side.
“I was starting to focus more on myself, trying to make [fewer] mistakes, trying to be more professional and trying to put everything together. Because I [had] potential many times, but I was falling down. I was fast, but then I crashed on lap two. Maybe I wanted [it] too much, I [went] too hard and then I crashed.
Pedro Acosta, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing
Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / LAT Images / via Getty Images
“I can count many moments this season that I lost a good opportunity to be in the top five with a crash. Sometimes it’s better to make one step back, chill a bit, see the situation from the outside.”
One of KTM’s major issues of late has been getting its tyres to last a race distance. Acosta said he expected another tough weekend on that front, but that last weekend’s event in Australia may have served as a wake-up call for KTM to work.
“At Phillip Island, tyre consumption was a disaster. And here it looks like it will be difficult again.
“But anyway, I’m quite happy because it looks like KTM has been working a lot between races. It was tough to understand why we arrived at that critical point on Phillip Island but maybe this also switches on a warning [throughout] KTM to start to be more deep on this point.
“Let’s see how we have to work, if [there is] another way or how we can make our tyre consumption better for this weekend – because it’s going to be an important one.
“But I think this is good also that the company realised that we were in a critical situation.”
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– The Autosport.com Team
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