Pedro Acosta points to baffling tyre struggle after tough Japanese Grand Prix

Pedro Acosta called the Japanese Grand Prix his first truly tough race in a long while, attributing the difficulty to a strange issue that left him fighting for seventh.

Coming off his maiden MotoGP victory in Austria, Acosta faced a relatively quiet weekend at Motegi, even though he showed strong single‑lap pace to lock out a front‑row start.

On the hard rear tyre, like everyone else, he lost two positions right at the start and fell back to eighth.

He later fought his way back, passing Ai Ogura and Raul Fernandez quickly to reach fifth, only for the two Trackhouse riders to immediately shunt him back to seventh.

After the race, Acosta said he couldn’t get Michelin’s stiffer rear tyre to work at Motegi, which hampered his braking and acceleration.

“It was a tough one; I haven’t had a race this hard in ages,” he remarked. “It seems we didn’t match the bike to the tyre. I’m not sure why I struggled so much to brake and then find any drive.”

“P7 isn’t a disaster, though. Sure, it wasn’t our day, but I’m pleased to see all the KTMs up front — Enea Bastianini brought home fourth.”

“At least we now have data to figure out what went wrong.”

Pedro Acosta, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / LAT Images / via Getty Images

Acosta isn’t convinced the tyre construction change alone explains his lack of pace; he wants to dig into the data for clarity.

“Swapping tyres doesn’t automatically make Enea fast and me slow. Something else is at play that we don’t yet understand. The bike felt fine off the brakes and exiting corners; its behaviour seemed normal. It’s really odd. We need to examine everything with the team because this feeling is new to me.”

He admitted that his braking and acceleration troubles made overtaking difficult, leaving him trapped behind Fernandez and Ogura in the closing laps.

“I lacked grip both under braking and when accelerating at the start,” he said. “Then it wasn’t terrible, but I wasn’t gaining on them — they just slowed. Later I dropped again. It’s just strange.”

He added: “Passing was a real struggle for me, which isn’t typical. When I tried to move back past Raul, I spun, got stuck, and Ogura slipped by again, ending any chance I had. Still, I hope the fans enjoyed the show.”

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