RIDER INTERVIEW
# ThaiGP
There have been a few ups and downs since , as Acosta has recently struggled to keep pace with the faster Ducatis . Yet another third place in Aragon confirmed his genius and earmarked him as a star for the future .
“ We need to understand that our project is quite young ,” he said of keeping expectations in check this year . “ Sometimes we are trying many things . I was maybe thinking too much . Sometimes it ’ s better to make a step back in order to get to the front .”
Acosta had a midseason lull , which included a couple of dispiriting results in Austria . Yet a switch back to a setting he used so successfully earlier in the year paid off in Aragon . “ We were also coming back to a bike that I was knowing . It ’ s true that maybe was not the fastest bike , but was consistency for this . We need to try in this way because we see that this is a good way to become competitive again .”
“ We were trying many things to improve and , also , I was needing to adapt my style to these things . Arrive one moment , we weren ’ t riding like this , we were making like this ( assume he ’ s moving his hands from one spot to another ). Sometimes it ’ s better to go back and put the wheels straight and go like this . We were coming better but we were riding to the side , and not straight and not progressing like we should be . For this let ’ s try to put everything in line and try to be ( consistently back at the front ).”
Acosta ’ s efforts early in the season resulted in him being handed a spot in KTM ’ s factory team for 2025 . But the reinging Moto2™ World Champion isn ’ t thinking about next year just yet . “ Everyone knows next year is going to be a nice year racing KTM colours . But I ’ m ( not thinking ) about next year . Now we need to focused on going fast this season , end the season in the best way from here to Valencia and then next season let ’ s see what ’ s happening .
“ There ’ s no reason not to be happy about coming in a factory team ,” he said . “ It ’ s true that even now I have a factory bike , I have factory guys , I have factory crew . It ’ s true that there ’ s no reason to go away from this team , but there ’ s also no reason to not go up to the factory team . I ’ m super happy to take this decision , and to have ( made ) the decision one year ago that KTM was going to be my brand to jump to MotoGP with .”
PT Grand Prix of Thailand | 71