Pol Espargaro has heaped praise on Pedro Acosta after the KTM sensation stormed to a stunning second-place finish at the Aragon MotoGP, calling the performance “a big bag of oxygen” for the Austrian factory team.
Acosta finished just 1.7 seconds behind race winner Marc Marquez—who continued his Aragon dominance with an eighth victory—while finishing a massive 23 seconds clear of the next-best KTM, Enea Bastianini, in eighth. Espargaro, filling in for Maverick Vinales at Red Bull KTM Tech3, described Acosta’s ride as “unbelievable” and “super.”
“It’s nice to see that the bike is there for Pedro. Pedro’s race today is unbelievable, it’s super,” Espargaro said. “It’s like a big bag of oxygen for everyone inside the factory and this is going to help us to keep pushing for Pedro because he deserves the best material and bike for the next races. He is going insane. This shows that Pedro is on the top of the bike, he’s doing much more than what the bike can do.”
Despite Acosta’s impending move to Ducati next season, Espargaro emphasized that performances like this provide crucial motivation and energy within the KTM camp. He also noted that Brad Binder and Enea Bastianini’s top-10 finishes were further proof of the RC16’s competitiveness at Aragon.
“So, it means here today the bike was not too bad and that gives us a lot of energy for the next ones,” Espargaro concluded.
With Acosta’s “insane” pace and KTM’s renewed confidence, the team heads into the remainder of the season with a boost of optimism.
