MotoGP rookie Acosta ‘has lived last three years with pressure of expectation’
MotoGP rookie Pedro Acosta says he has been “living the last three years with pressure” of expectation due to his rapid rise through the grand prix ranks with KTM.
The Spaniard has only been in the world championship for three years, winning the Moto3 title on his debut in 2021 before making the step to Moto2, where he managed three race victories in 2022.
Last year Acosta won the Moto2 crown and signed with the KTM-backed Tech3 GasGas team to step up to MotoGP this year.
Acosta has faced immense media attention since his first year in Moto3, which has only heightened now he is stepping to MotoGP.
Asked by Motorsport.com during Tech3’s 2024 launch event how he has been able to separate this attention from his preparations for 2024 over the winter, Acosta said: “Well, the problem is since I started in the championship these question marks or this pressure from the media was always there.
“I was just living the last three years with pressure every day of my life for this. Now it becomes something normal, just trying to focus on myself and just enjoying when I go riding. Also just enjoying when we go to Austria with the guys from the Pierer Mobility factory.
“I’m just trying to be focused on myself because I had some bad moments in the past with these things in the media. I just learn to switch off the sound and listen to what I want to listen to.”
Photo by: GasGas Factory Racing
Pedro Acosta, Tech3 GASGAS Factory Racing
Acosta will face his maiden season in MotoGP in a year in which most factory deals come up for grabs for 2025.
While Acosta’s contract does have a clause in it which states he can be released by KTM should it not promote him to its factory squad in 2025, he is “calm” for the time being over his future.
"All these issues are handled by my manager [Albert Valera], I don't know anything,” he said of his future. “I prefer to be on my own, focused on riding a motorcycle, which in the end is what speaks for itself.
“I don't know anything about dates, if the market is going to move in two or three months. I am calm with KTM – I know that if the decisions are not taken in two months, they will be taken in three, four or we will have to wait until the end of the season.
“I am very calm about it. I already had it clear, but in Valencia [in the November test] life gave me the reason that this is my place, and where I have to stay, inside the KTM bubble.
“So, it will only be a matter of time, as many months as it takes, to decide what we will do.”
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