“Tough day” for Pedro Acosta as old issues return at Spanish MotoGP

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“Tough day” for Pedro Acosta as old issues return at Spanish MotoGP

Pedro Acosta said he encountered issues from previous years at the Spanish MotoGP that he thought he’d solved.

Pedro Acosta, 2026 MotoGP Spanish Grand Prix, pit box. Credit: Gold and Goose.
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Pedro Acosta admitted to a “tough day” on Friday at the Spanish MotoGP, struggling with issues he faced in 2025.

The Spanish rider was on many occasions during Friday’s MotoGP practice sessions caught by the TV broadcast cameras making mistakes under braking and going wide, struggling in particular – it seemed – with rear instability.

He explained afterwards that he felt issues he thought he’d fixed over the winter had re-emerged at Jerez, and that it could be a track-specific issue.

Acosta was not the only rider to complain of problems from previous years returning in Jerez, Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi made similar comments after Practice when speaking to Sky Sport Italy, but while Bezzecchi finished the day third Acosta was only 15th and out of Q2.

“A tough day for sure,” the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing rider reflected, speaking to MotoGP.com.

“This can happen, but now is the time to understand what is going wrong; difficult to understand because we have the same problems as last year. For this, it’s time to analyse.”

Acosta added: “Quite strange because [braking stability] was the point that we improved during the winter. 

“It’s true that now we have to understand why only I have this feeling always when I come to this track since I signed to MotoGP. For this, it’s a matter of time that we solve [it].”

Acosta also indicated that it is not a given that he will pass through Q1 to Q2 on Saturday.

“First of all, we will have to pass from Q1 to Q2,” he said.

“This will make everything more difficult because it looks like a lot of fast guys are out of this top-10, knowing how tight is everything. 

“For this, this [making it into Q2] will be target number one, then it’s just a matter to be as [far forwards] as we can.”

In this article

Pedro Acosta
Red Bull KTM Factory Racing

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Pedro Acosta said he encountered issues from previous years at the Spanish MotoGP that he thought he’d solved.

Pedro Acosta admitted to a “tough day” on Friday at the Spanish MotoGP, struggling with issues he faced in 2025.

The Spanish rider was on many occasions during Friday’s MotoGP practice sessions caught by the TV broadcast cameras making mistakes under braking and going wide, struggling in particular – it seemed – with rear instability.

He explained afterwards that he felt issues he thought he’d fixed over the winter had re-emerged at Jerez, and that it could be a track-specific issue.

Acosta was not the only rider to complain of problems from previous years returning in Jerez, Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi made similar comments after Practice when speaking to Sky Sport Italy, but while Bezzecchi finished the day third Acosta was only 15th and out of Q2.

“A tough day for sure,” the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing rider reflected, speaking to MotoGP.com.

“This can happen, but now is the time to understand what is going wrong; difficult to understand because we have the same problems as last year. For this, it’s time to analyse.”

Acosta added: “Quite strange because [braking stability] was the point that we improved during the winter. 

“It’s true that now we have to understand why only I have this feeling always when I come to this track since I signed to MotoGP. For this, it’s a matter of time that we solve [it].”

Acosta also indicated that it is not a given that he will pass through Q1 to Q2 on Saturday.

“First of all, we will have to pass from Q1 to Q2,” he said.

“This will make everything more difficult because it looks like a lot of fast guys are out of this top-10, knowing how tight is everything. 

“For this, this [making it into Q2] will be target number one, then it’s just a matter to be as [far forwards] as we can.”

Pedro Acosta admitted to a “tough day” on Friday at the Spanish MotoGP, struggling with issues he faced in 2025.

The Spanish rider was on many occasions during Friday’s MotoGP practice sessions caught by the TV broadcast cameras making mistakes under braking and going wide, struggling in particular – it seemed – with rear instability.

He explained afterwards that he felt issues he thought he’d fixed over the winter had re-emerged at Jerez, and that it could be a track-specific issue.

Acosta was not the only rider to complain of problems from previous years returning in Jerez, Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi made similar comments after Practice when speaking to Sky Sport Italy, but while Bezzecchi finished the day third Acosta was only 15th and out of Q2.

“A tough day for sure,” the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing rider reflected, speaking to MotoGP.com.

“This can happen, but now is the time to understand what is going wrong; difficult to understand because we have the same problems as last year. For this, it’s time to analyse.”

Acosta added: “Quite strange because [braking stability] was the point that we improved during the winter. 

“It’s true that now we have to understand why only I have this feeling always when I come to this track since I signed to MotoGP. For this, it’s a matter of time that we solve [it].”

Acosta also indicated that it is not a given that he will pass through Q1 to Q2 on Saturday.

“First of all, we will have to pass from Q1 to Q2,” he said.

“This will make everything more difficult because it looks like a lot of fast guys are out of this top-10, knowing how tight is everything. 

“For this, this [making it into Q2] will be target number one, then it’s just a matter to be as [far forwards] as we can.”

[analyse_source url=”http://crash.net/motogp/news/1093420/1/tough-day-pedro-acosta-old-issues-return-spanish-motogp”]


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