Acosta on first-lap Barcelona exit: Marquez came in as if no one was there

Rising MotoGP star Pedro Acosta believes Marc Marquez tried to overtake him “like no one was there” after his early exit from Saturday’s Barcelona Grand Prix sprint race.

Acosta made a quick launch from sixth on the grid to jump to fourth place at the start, behind the Ducati GP24s of Enea Bastianini, Francesco Bagnaia and Jorge Martin.

But heading into the tight right-hander of Turn 3, Acosta was hit by the chasing Gresini bike of Marc Marquez, with the impact ripping the front fairing off the front of his GasGas-branded KTM RC16.

The 20-year-old was forced to pit at the end of the lap and retire from the race, while Marquez managed to grab three championship points in seventh.

Speaking after the race, Acosta made it clear that he was unimpressed with Marquez’s move, stressing that he was ahead of him going into the corner.

“I was in front. I didn’t see anyone until Marc hit me. I was full on the right [of the track], [on the] inside,” he explained.

“He went in like no one was there. I will not say that it was his fault or not, but it was the third corner, it was not necessary to go like this.

“Even in corner two, it was Marc behind me, with [Franco] Morbidelli also. OK, he was able to carry more speed.

“OK, if you carry more speed you overtake me and when he started to close the line [and] I [got] hit like this.

“But anyway I was there. I wasn't able to see him outside.

“I'm pissed off; it's been a long time since a fairing like that came off [like this] in MotoGP.”

While Marquez didn’t take full responsibility for the incident, he conceded that the onus was on him to avoid contact with Acosta on that occasion.

He likened the clash to that between Acosta and his Tech3 team-mate Augusto Fernandez in Friday practice in which the pair ended up on the floor after contact at Turn 5.

"I am always honest in these situations and the touch was a racing incident, but if anyone could have avoided it it was me, he couldn't see me,” he said.

"We met and he didn't see anything, what happened to Augusto Fernandez yesterday [in practice], [it was] the same."

Additional reporting by Oriol Puigdemont and German Garcia Casanova