Pedro Acosta lost fifth place in the Brno MotoGP race when his RC16 suddenly failed at the first corner as he entered the final lap. The Red Bull KTM Factory Racing rider stated that this malfunction was identical to the one he experienced during Friday practice, and stressed the need for concrete explanations from the factory.
The recurring problem of the season.
KTM's reliability issues have been a major topic in MotoGP, particularly since the Catalunya race. In Barcelona, Acosta's problem led to Alex Marquez's serious crash. In Brno, the issue manifested itself both during Friday's practice and on the final lap of the race. Acosta made his point after the race: 'I don't even feel disappointed anymore. I can't change things that aren't in my control; that's just how it is. It's time for KTM to provide answers and analyze why we're experiencing these reliability problems, because there are now quite a few of them.' Acosta also added that he expects all materials to be collected from the factory to investigate the root cause of the problem.
A challenging strategy with front tire pressure.
Before retiring, Acosta had a serious battle with front tire pressure throughout the race. The Spanish driver, who had climbed to fourth place early on, deliberately moved behind Fabio Di Giannantonio to increase the pressure. However, once Di Giannantonio got some fresh air, the speed gap widened, and Acosta lost positions. He then fell behind Joan Mir, explaining that he was able to follow comfortably because he was faster than Mir and that this position offered a good opportunity to correct the tire pressure. However, the engine failed after one lap. 'Our target was between third and fifth, I was in fifth place. I overtook Diggia, he was faster than me. I also overtook Joan, I was clearly faster than him, and I was lapping close to correct the tire. I was in the ideal position; the race just lasted one extra lap,' said Acosta.
We cannot compete with Ducati and Aprilia.
Acosta acknowledged that despite all the problems encountered, they were aware of the current circumstances. 'We know we're not at the level of Aprilia and Ducati, we're playing with what we have. Maybe if I had been a little closer to Ogura, this wouldn't have happened; but Diggia was faster than me even with the correct tire pressure. Tire pressure wasn't the main problem today,' he said. This failure, which he described as different in nature from the one in Barcelona, once again highlighted KTM's reliability crisis during the season.