Fabio Di Giannantonio will go back to Europe for an “important appointment” regarding his left shoulder injury following the end of the MotoGP Japanese Grand Prix.

Di Giannantonio recorded his best weekend results at Motegi since his injury, finishing sixth in the Sprint and eighth in the Sunday race.

The VR46 rider dislocated his shoulder in Austria around the Red Bull Ring in August, leading to him playing catch-up in the rounds that have occurred since then.

After missing the event itself and reportedly relying on painkillers for the subsequent races, Di Giannantonio acknowledges he doesn’t want to make matters worse.

This “important meeting” will determine the severity of his injury and whether surgery is required, leaving the Italian in a predicament of what he should do next.

An option could be to see him undergo surgery and, as a result, miss the rest of the season so he can return to full strength to test his GP25 Ducati on January 31st.

“On Wednesday I have an important appointment to understand how will be my condition for the rest of this season, or next year. So after that we will understand everything,” di Giannantonio said via Crash.net.

“For sure, as I said many times, my goal is to do as many races as possible and finish the season in a good way.

“But also, the important thing is to arrive next year at 100% from the first test.

“So we have many things to consider. Let’s see. We have to consider my will to race but also to recover [fully] for next season.”

Di Giannantonio feels as fast like in the ‘old times’

The Italian described his weekend as “bittersweet” because he feels as though he is as fast as in the “old times”.

The 25-year-old finished in the points in the Sprint and Sunday race for the first time since Silverstone, the race weekend before the injury occurred.

“A bittersweet feeling because I’m super-happy about the weekend overall, because I have been fast like the ‘old times’ before my injury and we showed good speed again,” di Giannantonio said.

“But a pity for the race because the first lap was a real jungle and it destroyed a bit my result.

“I think we could have been fighting with Morbidelli and Binder [fifth and sixth] because my pace was really similar after the first third of the race.

“So, a pity, but happy with the race overall.”

The post Fabio Di Giannantonio provides an update on injured shoulder appeared first on Motorsport Week.

Marc Marquez admits that this weekend’s MotoGP Japanese Grand Prix was “a boring but tactical race” despite earning his eighth podium of the 2024 season.

Marquez qualified down the order on Saturday due to a track limits violation in qualifying, but he was able to rescue another third place from a low grid position.

The Gresini rider conceded the race was mundane after he was forced to give up on catching leaders Francesco Bagnaia and Jorge Martin to hold off Enea Bastianini.

“It was a boring but tactical race. Especially because when I was in that third place, Martin and Bagnaia already opened a gap,” Marquez told MotoGP.com.

“I was trying to find a way to reduce that gap but by then when I tried to attack a bit more I made a mistake in Turn 1 and then I gave up. 

“It was just time to control Bastianini because he was riding in a very good way. 

“I was a bit scared for those last laps of Bastianini that we are used to seeing but we controlled it in a good way. 

 “I was pushing a lot with the front tyre because the rear was finished and then I started to take a risk with the front.

“Then I said ‘ok I will try’ and even like this I saw even he was reducing the gap. 

“As I said I was a bit scared. The situation was not under control but I felt super good.” 

Marquez reveals ‘crucial’ improvement

Marquez’s weekend looked as if it could have been stronger than his pair of third places from the Sprint and main race.

The Gresini rider set a new lap record at the Motegi circuit, before it was deleted in controversial circumstances, and was forced to start both races from ninth on the grid.

The Spaniard acknowledges that it’s necessary to improve the practice and qualifying sessions over the weekend as it is costing the team better results. 

“Of course when you start at the front everything is different,” said Marquez.

“But when you start in ninth place, on the first lap we did well but not perfect because at Turn 10 Jorge went through on me. 

“Then I missed a bit of acceleration and Miller overtook us on Turn 11 and then I lost some time there. 

“But it’s ok, it’s like this. Our crucial point will be to improve the qualifying and practice as I said the last few races. 

“It looked like we could do it this race but unfortunately we were unlucky but it’s ok, there’s next race.” 

Marquez praises training mate Alonso after Moto3 title

Motegi also proved to be a celebratory weekend for Marquez, as his part-time training mate David Alonso took the Moto3 title at Motegi.

Marquez was one of the first to congratulate the Colombian superstar in the pitlane and has high hopes that he has seen a future MotoGP champion in the making.

“I love it. I’m in love with David, I like him especially because he has charisma and he has his feet on the ground. 

“He’s just working, he’s asking all the time what he can do better, he’s coming to me and I just try to give him some advice. 

“So he deserves it and now he needs to enjoy it, he’s a World Champion, a Moto3 World Champion, don’t put too much pressure on the kid. 

“Next year he will move to Moto2, still make mistakes because it’s normal but he needs time and let’s see. 

“I hope that he can be a great champion in the future.”

The post Marc Marquez bemoans ‘boring’ MotoGP Japanese GP race appeared first on Motorsport Week.

Pedro Acosta has admitted that KTM isn’t on Ducati’s “level at the moment”, but he has argued that the MotoGP‘s current dominant marque isn’t “untouchable.”

The rookie sensation earned his first pole position in his MotoGP career at Motegi having managed a second-place finish at the previous round in Indonesia.

Acosta crashed out in both the Sprint and Grand Prix, though, which added no points to his championship total in what has been an impressive rookie campaign.

The GasGas rider is determined to come back stronger from the weekend’s results and is optimistic that he can stand to challenge Ducati in the remaining races.

“I’m not going to accept that the Ducati is better than the KTM, even if that leads to me crashing some more times,” he said via Autosport.

“We know that we’re not at Ducati’s level at the moment. But we saw that it’s not impossible to get there and that they’re not untouchable. We’ve seen that we can fight with them.

“There is little chance of beating the Ducati. There are times in life when you have to gamble.

“Even more so when Pecco [Bagnaia] is in front. He’s not going to risk it, but I am.”

Acosta finds his crashes “hard to accept”

Acosta expressed that he finds it “hard to accept” his Sprint and Sunday race shunts, but he took full accountability for his mistakes.

His crash during the Sprint race happened in the final few Laps while leading the race, crashing out at Turn 7.

Meanwhile, he had an early bath on Sunday as he crashed out at the final corner on the third lap.

“Well, I was just trying to prepare the way onto the main straight a little bit better because I was struggling a bit to be closer to Pecco to try an overtake,” he explained.

“But anyway, it was a mistake from my side.

“For this, it’s difficult to say something. It’s true that it was super, super close. Let’s try again in Australia.

“For me, the feeling was really similar to yesterday. It’s difficult to accept the crash. Let’s try again in Australia because we are getting closer.

Tech3 Team Manager Nicolas Goyon echoed Acosta’s sentiments, but also believes this experience will make the rookie “stronger”.

The post Pedro Acosta admits KTM not on Ducati’s ‘level at the moment’ appeared first on Motorsport Week.

Francesco Bagnaia expressed that he is determined to retain the title after he achieved maximum points from the MotoGP Japanese Grand Prix weekend.

Ducati’s Bagnaia sealed a perfect 37 points from the round in Motegi having taken the victory in both the Sprint on Saturday and the main race on Sunday. 

The Italian has once again cut into championship leader Jorge Martin’s advantage in the Riders’ standings, with the gap now standing at just 10 points. 

“I want to keep this championship so I have to do it and I have to try to recover points every time but without taking risks,” Bagnaia stated.

“It’s not easy but this weekend started well. 

“We have to take it as an example for the next ones and try to follow what we did this weekend to work in a perfect way.

“The next one is Phillip Island which is a good track for Jorge too so let’s see.”

Bagnaia ‘had to push a bit more’ to retain lead

Despite taking a dominant victory in Motegi, Bagnaia conceded that he struggled with managing the gap between two of his rivals.

In the nascent stages of the race, the Italian was being followed by Pedro Acosta before the rookie crashed out of second and was then stalked by Martin to the line. 

Bagnaia admitted he had to “push a bit more” to keep the GasGas rider behind. 

“I realised [Acosta crashed] when I saw it on the dashboard,” he recalled.

“My team said that Pedro was no longer behind but it was Jorge and I understood it. 

“With Pedro I had to push a bit more in the first part of the race because I think I was pushing a lot to take back this position.

“When you are behind and close to the guys in front of you, under 0.5s it’s very tough to manage the front so I think he wanted to overtake but it’s not easy.”

The Ducati rider also came under fire late on from title rival Martin, but Bagnaia admitted that he had “everything under control” in that battle.

“I just tried to manage in the best way possible the gap to Jorge, wasn’t easy because he was recovering a bit in the last laps but finally we did a very good job,” he continued.

“I was having everything under control but I was more hoping that with the lap time he did he was finishing everything because I was already in the situation that I had finished everything. 

“When I was trying to accelerate a bit to improve my pace my rear tyre did not have the same idea, so I was trying to be competitive and not lose too much.

Bagnaia pushed into ‘alien’ territory with eighth 2024 win

Bagnaia’s dominance in Motegi this weekend means that he has become just the fifth rider to take eight wins in a single MotoGP season.

He has followed in the footsteps of “alien” riders Valentino Rossi, Casey Stoner, Jorge Lorenzo and Marc Marquez in managing the feat.

The statistic could prove positive for the Italian’s championship chances, as the only rider to take eight victories and not take the title was Lorenzo in 2013. 

The Ducati rider was also quick to note that he believes in his title chance as the last time he had taken this amount of wins was in his victorious Moto2 campaign in 2018.

“We have to believe in it and we have to never give up,” he insisted. “I will try to always do my best job. 

“Eight wins in a season is something remarkable. It’s my first time, and the last time I did it was in 2018 when I won in Moto2, I won eight races so let’s keep working.”

The post Francesco Bagnaia determined to retain MotoGP title amid Motegi win appeared first on Motorsport Week.

Jorge Martin disclosed he “lost the front quite heavily,” which almost caused him to crash in the latter stages of the MotoGP Japanese Grand Prix.

Martin recovered from 11th place in qualifying to finish in second place, but he revealed that he eased off after a late charge to catch leader Francesco Bagnaia.

The Pramac rider was 1.8s adrift of his title rival but clawed the gap back to 0.7s. However, a near crash led the Spaniard to bring the bike home and secure the 20 points.

“For sure, when I was closing the gap I thought I could make the move,” he said.

“I saw Pecco was pushing, because he did a few mistakes in corner 11.

“So, I said ok, he’s pushing like hell. So I said ‘Ok, let’s push’. And everything was under control.

“I was quite on the limit, but under control. But then I lost the front quite heavily in corner three.

“I saved it with the elbow. Then I lost like two seconds, I was really shitting myself and I said ‘Ok, it’s enough’.

“For sure, in championship ways, I think we have to think about this 20 points starting from 11th.

“Now it’s important to improve qualifying to do good qualifyings, because when I am in front I can lead and I can control the races.”

Martin pinpointed when in the race he decided to lift off and settle for second, with tyre wear playing a pivotal role throughout.

He added: “For me, it’s not like a victory. I’m a rider and I want to at least battle for the win always.

“Coming from the back it was difficult to overtake the riders. I had to use a bit more tyre than Pecco I think.

“So, I started to close the gap but when you are closer than half a second everything became quite difficult with the bike.

“It was difficult to stop the bike. And then 10 laps to go, I said ‘Ok, I try again, let’s go for it’. I saw Pecco was struggling a bit on braking, so I was pushing quite a lot.

“Three to go I had this big moment in corner three; this moment told me ‘Jorge, ok, it’s time to stop and finish with 20 points’.

“Pecco was really strong, he is a master of managing tyres, so he did an amazing job.

“But I feel confident coming from the fourth row to make second, good confidence for Australia that is a nice track for me.”

Martin feels “stronger” than he was in 2023

Bagnaia’s victory reduced Martin’s championship lead to only 10 points heading into the final four race weekends. A maximum of 148 points are still to be awarded.

Martin revealed his plans to try to become a first-time MotoGP champion and admitted he feels as though he is a “stronger” rider than he was one year ago.

“For sure, last sprint to the end,” he added.

“Will be tough, Pecco is an amazing rider. But I feel grateful to be here, grateful I can battle like last year.

“But I feel stronger. So, let’s go for it. There are some races where I think I am a bit better, some others where Pecco is a bit better.

“So, the target is to bring it till Valencia and have the chance to win it.” 

The post Jorge Martin reveals how he ‘lost the front quite heavily’ in Motegi MotoGP race appeared first on Motorsport Week.

Francesco Bagnaia fended off a late charge from title rival Jorge Martin to win the MotoGP Japanese Grand Prix.

The two-time MotoGP champion sealed his eighth MotoGP Grand Prix win of the season, putting his name alongside legendary riders Valentino Rossi, Casey Stoner, Jorge Lorenzo and Marc Marquez in achieving this feat.

Bagnaia claimed the lead into Turn 1 from pole-sitter Pedro Acosta and led every single lap.

Martin gained five places from his 11th-place qualification inside the first sector, before making opportunistic moves on Marquez and Bastianini to claim fourth place.

Joan Mir and Alex Marquez both crashed out at the same turn on Lap 1, with Mir getting caught up and having the Gresini bike on the rear of his machine.

Miller rose to fifth after his disastrous qualification before older brother Marquez forged his way through the Australian to regain fifth.

Acosta crashed out of proceedings once again, this time from second place. The rookie tried to recover the bike in the gravel trap, and as he crashed in the final corner, he later rejoined nearly a whole lap down from leader Bagnaia before later retiring the bike.

Marquez caught Binder off guard and made a last-gasp overtake at Turn 5 on Lap 5. With both riders extremely gifted in late braking, Marquez saw an opening and took full advantage.

After Lap 5, Bagnaia had a 1.2s advantage over championship rival Martin, with GP23 rider Marquez a further 1.7s adrift.

Augusto Fernandez crashed out from 19th as both GasGas KTM riders will end the Japanese Grand Prix with zero points.

Bastianini made an opportunistic move on Binder in Turn 9 before the South African cut back on the Ducati’s inside, holding onto fourth place.

He only held on to fourth for one lap longer before the far superior GP24 overtook, with Marquez next in his sights.

On Lap 10, the stewards announced that riders could swap bikes if deemed necessary, with the clouds in the sky suggesting possible rainfall in the latter stages.

Championship leader Martin found three-tenths of a second to reduce the gap to 0.9s, with Bagnaia and the Spaniard lapping significantly quicker than the rest of the field. Both GP24 riders complied consistent lap times in the 1.44s before Martin posted his first 1.45s banker on Lap 13.

Despite qualifying in third place, Maverick Vinales’ race ended in the gravel trap at Turn 6 to cap off a disappointing outing.

Pramac’s Franco Morbidelli and the VR46 duo of Marco Bezzecchi and Fabio Di Giannantonio overtook Miller, as the Australian dropped off of the tail end of his team-mate as the race progressed.

With every Lap that went by, Bagnaia looked very comfortable out front. The Italian produced unmatched consistency, increasing his advantage over Martin to 1.8s as the race entered its final third.

Suddenly, Martin gave the impression that he dropped off in the middle period to preserve his tyres. The Spanish rider slashed Bagnaia’s advantage in half by the start of Lap 21.

Martin found between two and three-tenths of a second in the previous three laps to get back within a second of the Italian. Ducati gave Bagnaia an update from the sidelines, and the calm, collected champion extended his advantage back to 1.6s to take the victory.

Bagnaia reduced the championship deficit to only 10 points in the championship to leader Martin. Once again, the duo shared the podium with Marquez.

GP24 riders Bastianini and Morbidelli finished fourth and fifth, respectively, despite Morbidelli ending his race over 13 seconds adrift of his fellow Ducati riders.

Binder provided KTM with its best finish of sixth, with the VR46 duo of Bezzecchi and Di Giannantonio unable to salvage a perfect weekend for Ducati with all its eight bikes finishing in the top eight positions.

Aleix Espargaro got the better of Jack Miller to take ninth, as Johann Zarco delivered a strong 11th place for Honda.

Fabio Quartararo finished in 12th place for Yamaha at a track it isn’t as competitive at, meanwhile Takaaki Nakagami brought home points in his last ever Japanese Grand Prix with his home team.

Luca Marini accumulated 14th for Repsol Honda, as Raul Fernandez and Alex Rins occupied the final two spots in the final classification.

The post Francesco Bagnaia completes the double at Motegi MotoGP appeared first on Motorsport Week.

Gresini’s Manuel Gonzalez earned a dramatic first Moto2 win over Ai Ogura thanks to a strategic masterclass in Motegi. 

In a restarted race due to rainy conditions, Gonzalez elected to remain with slick tyres, which allowed the Spanish rider a bizarre route to his first Grand Prix victory. 

Aspar’s Jake Dixon got away well from pole position as he led the field going into the first corner. 

It appeared as if it would be an Aspar 1-2 coming out of Turn 1, but Guevara was overly ambitious with his move on Van den Goorbergh and pushed both riders wide.  

Immediately after the race started, the rain started to come down significantly, and the marshals waved the red and white flag due to the wet conditions. 

The riders were clearly unhappy with the track and the red flag was thrown out before the first lap was completed. 

Race direction decided that the race would resume with 12 laps to be completed.

The rainy conditions caused uncertainty in the pit lane about whether it was damp enough to switch to the wet tyres. 

Most of the riders on the grid elected for the rain tyres, with the home hero Ai Ogura one of the exceptions as he headed out onto the second sighting lap on slicks.

On the restart, Dixon managed to get away well again from pole position, and this time it would be an Aspar 1-2 as Guevara learned from his mistake on the first try. 

It was the KTM Ajo of Celestino Vietti and the MarcVDS of Tony Arbolino who looked to have the early rhythm in the difficult conditions, and were able to move themselves up into the top five. 

Ogura’s gamble had him down in 14th after the first lap, but it was clear that his tyres were the best choice as the race progressed.

By the third lap, the local hero moved past Dixon for the race’s lead as his gamble quickly paid off.

The remaining slick tyre runners were able to slice through the field with ease, as the top six became the six riders who made the switch.

Manuel Gonzalez was the fastest rider on track and was able to close down the four second gap to Ogura out front. 

Gonzalez made his pace advantage count as he overtook the Japanese rider and was on course to cruise to a maiden Moto2 victory.

The Gresini rider saw out the race to take his first victory ahead of championship leader Ogura.

MarcVDS’ Filip Salac rounded out the podium in third after beating Jeremy Alcoba in the podium fight.

Zonta Van den Goorbergh recovered after a difficult restart to take fifth on the slick tyres, with Xavi Artigas completing a slick tyre lock-out of the top six

Vietti crossed the line as the best of the slick tyre runners in seventh, some 53 seconds behind Gonzalez 

Diogo Moreira took eighth in the difficult conditions ahead of Alonso Lopez in ninth, as Guevara eventually crossed the line in 10th. 

Arbolino took 11th after fighting off SpeedUp’s Fermin Aldeguer and polesitter Dixon, who came home in 12th and 13th respectively.

Sergio Garcia added two points to his tally as he took 14th on the line, while Darryn Binder earned the final points position in 15th.

The post Manuel Gonzalez takes maiden Moto2 victory in Motegi masterclass appeared first on Motorsport Week.

Aspar’s David Alonso became Colombia’s first-ever motorcycle world champion after winning his 10th Moto3 race of the season at Motegi.

Alonso sealed a dominant title with his victory over Collin Veijer. With his 14th Moto3 win overall, he also became the rider to with the most victories in the class.

It was a good start from poleman Ivan Ortola who was able to get the run down into Turn 1 ahead of Alonso and Veijer. 

Holgado, the main championship challenger to Alonso, got off the line fantastically to move up from ninth to third, overtaking the Colombian in what could have been a vital move for the title fight. 

Adrian Fernandez was another rider who had a fine opening lap and was able to push Alonso back a further place and into the clutches of Leopard teammate Piqueras.

Fernandez was clearly buoyed by his first podium in Mandalika and was able to pass Holgado and Ortola to take early control of proceedings. 

At the midpoint of the race, the fastest laps flew in as the riders looked to keep in touch with the leading trio of Fernandez, Ortola, and Piqueras. The second and third-placed men set successive race lap records. 

With eight laps to go, Alonso decided to turn up the heat and broke the lap record that had been set just laps before as he overtook Piqueras in an attempt to keep tabs on his nearest contender Holgado. 

As the pace appeared to tumble, it was the Colombian with all the momentum and he was able to overtake both Holgado and Ortola to get up to second to put himself in a strong position for the title.

The leading group appeared to have become a group of six, but was reduced to five when Piqueras slid out and crashed when attempting to rejoin.  

Alonso took the lead with three laps to go and tried to break away from Fernandez and Ortola to give himself the best shot of taking both the race and the Moto3 title.

Ortola was pushing hard to stick with Alonso and the pressure proved too much as the Spaniard crashed out of the race.

Battles behind allowed Alonso to clear off into the distance as he took the flag to take both the victory and the title in Motegi. 

Veijer was victorious in his battle with Fernandez as he crossed the line in second ahead of the Spaniard in third.

Holgado was disappointed in fourth after losing out on the title while Jose Antonio Rueda finished fifth for KTM Ajo. 

Home hero Ryusei Yamanaka took sixth, leading compatriot Tatsuki Suzuki over the line in seventh.

David Munoz finished the race in eighth ahead of Japan’s Taiyo Furusato in ninth, while Stefano Nepa rounded out the top 10. 

The Snipers duo of Matteo Bertelle and David Almansa took the chequered flag in 11th and 12th, a second clear of Filippo Farioli in 13th.

Riccardo Rossi came home in 14th, while Joel Esteban completed the points finishers in 15th.

The post Record-breaking David Alonso seals Moto3 championship after Motegi victory appeared first on Motorsport Week.

Francesco Bagnaia said he “had to sacrifice a bit of performance” on his Ducati despite taking the MotoGP Sprint victory at Motegi.

Bagnaia started the race well from second on the grid and was trailing leader Pedro Acosta before the GasGas KTM rider crashed out of the lead of the race. 

The Italian’s victory means the pendulum swings once more in the title battle, as he cut Jorge Martin’s lead in the riders’ standings down to 15 points after earning a “fundamental” six points. 

“It was a very important day, in a day where it was important not to take too much risk,” Bagnaia told MotoGP.com. 

“It’s fundamental to take as many points as possible, we get six compared to Jorge so I’m very happy. 

“It wasn’t easy with the wet patches and it was starting to rain again a bit in the last part of the race, so it was a bit of an understanding situation, but I think we managed to do a very good job. 

“It wasn’t easy to control the maps because without doing the slow lap in the sighting lap to better control the conditions, I had to sacrifice a bit of performance with the maps in the race and it wasn’t easy. 

“In any case, I’m happy, we managed to win again and these six points are very important.”

Bagnaia admits ‘struggling’ in Pedro Acosta and Enea Bastianini Sprint battles

Bagnaia spent the majority of the MotoGP Sprint race following Acosta, and said that he knew that the rookie crashed because “he was pushing a lot” in the difficult conditions. 

Acosta’s crash allowed Bagnaia to take the lead, which he was able to keep hold of despite a nervy final lap where he was pursued by current and future teammates Enea Bastianini and Marc Marquez.

The Ducati rider admitted this was management on his part after seeing his pitboard going onto the final tour of the circuit.

“I was thinking to try to let the front tyre breathe a bit and then try to push again because behind him, I was struggling a bit with braking the bike,” said Bagnaia. 

“As soon as I said that, he crashed because he was pushing a lot. 

“He entered a bit wider in that corner but he was doing a perfect job and considering the conditions it wasn’t easy.

“And honestly when I saw that I had 1.3 [gap to Bastianini] starting the final lap I said ‘ok I can slow down by a second’ and I did it, and it was good enough.” 

Francesco Bagnaia believes Ducati ‘can be competitive’ in MotoGP race

The Sprint victory has given Bagnaia’s camp a massive boost after apparent struggles in the last few rounds.

While uncertain of the performance of the Michelin medium rear tyre, the Italian believes that the potential for Sunday’s race is promising after seeing Maverick Vinales’ practice pace on the Aprilia.

“It will be different [tomorrow] because I think we will race with the medium rear tyre and I don’t know the performance of anybody because we just did eight, nine laps in the Friday morning. 

“Our performance could be very good, I saw that Maverick had the medium in the afternoon of practice and was very fast.

“So I think we can be competitive again, maybe even more.”

READ MORE: Francesco Bagnaia secures Motegi MotoGP Sprint race win

The post Francesco Bagnaia ‘had to sacrifice performance’ in Motegi MotoGP Sprint victory appeared first on Motorsport Week.

Pedro Acosta rued his crash in the MotoGP Sprint race at Motegi as “a stupid mistake” after it cost him a maiden victory in the premier class.

The rookie started on pole position for the first time in his MotoGP career and fell to third after Turn 1 before recovering to second by the end of Lap 1.

After following Francesco Bagnaia for a few laps, Acosta dived on his inside to lead proceedings, promoting himself back up to his original start position.

Acosta lost the front at Turn 5 with three laps remaining, consequently ending his chances of putting himself in the MotoGP winner’s enclosure.

“It was a stupid mistake on my part,” said Acosta (via Autosport). “I was a little bit off line… I came in a little more open and with a little more angle. Just a stupid mistake.

“This one hurts, but wrapped up in all the pain there are also positives. You have to see those positives as well as the negatives.

“I don’t make excuses; I look for solutions. So, we crashed but we were competitive today.

“We have to take the positive that I was fast today. We need to be happy that we have been fighting with these top four or five riders over the last few races, and that we know how we can improve.

“I’ve said before that I can win,” he reflected. “But then I’ve crashed out, like happened at Le Mans and like happened at Barcelona. But I never crashed out of the lead until now.

“Every time I qualify on pole, I crash out,” he joked.

Pedro Acosta reveals he wasn’t pushing harder than necessary

The 20-year-old revealed that he didn’t brake later into the flowing Turn 5, insisting that his entry was the same as it had been on any previous lap.

“I was just flowing, not trying to do anything different,” he said. “I was only trying to push in the areas where I was feeling comfortable: Turn 1, Turn 2 and Turn 4.

“But even before the race and before the crash, I was sliding in Turn 5. I was losing time there, but I wasn’t out of control.”

Bagnaia agreed with Acosta’s verdict, considering he had the best point of view in second place when the crash took place.

The Italian disclosed he intended to drop back further behind due to tyre pressures rather than it being assumed that Acosta was going beyond the limit.

“I think the front pressure was a bit too high,” explained Bagnaia. “Maybe because we started with a ‘safe’ pressure due to the [drizzly] conditions. So I struggled a bit when I was behind Pedro.

“As soon as I rolled off a bit to let the front tyre cool, he crashed. I don’t know what order we would have finished in, but I think he was doing a very good job.”

READ MORE: Pedro Acosta claims debut MotoGP pole in mixed Motegi conditions

The post Pedro Acosta rues Motegi MotoGP Sprint crash as ‘a stupid mistake’ appeared first on Motorsport Week.