Promising Star Pedro Acosta won today’s MotoGP Sprint Race in a feisty encounter
The Spanish rider has been destined for stardom since making his debut in Moto3, where he won the championship in his very first season, but he finally reached the top of MotoGP in today’s ThaiGP Sprint race.
Starting from 6th on the grid, Acosta went into the race with high hopes, but on a day when just the podium would’ve been a fantastic result, he exceeded expectations thanks to a major mistake by pre race favourite Marco Bezzecchi, and some instinctive racing against compatriot Marc Marquez.
As mentioned, Bezzecchi went into the race as the favourite, having shown lightning sprint and race simulation pace in not only the weekend’s practice sessions, but also in last week’s Buriram test. Alongside this, he had lightning quick one lap pace across all practice sessions, taking pole from Marc Marquez by 0.035 with a lap time of 1:28.562.
Despite the lightning quick lap, Bezzecchi crashed pushing to improve it, just after crashing in FP2 earlier in the day. A bad omen for the race?
This appeared the case as Marquez beat Bezzecchi to the hole shot,taking the lead out of the first corner. Heading up towards the second sector, Alex Marquez and Fabio Di Giananntonio were also pushing close to the front until Marquez was forced to sit up to avoid colliding with Raul Fernandez, forcing both himself and Di Giananntonio wide, ruining both of their chances of fighting for the podium.
Bezzecchi fought back on Marc Marquez later in the lap, taking the lead before Marc responded with a move of his own in the final corner. The battle continued in the second lap with Bezzecchi taking the lead once more, showing superior pace but just a few corners later, he was forced into a mistake under pressure, throwing away victory.
That mistake opened the door for Pedro Acosta, who found himself in second, hunting down Marc Marquez for the lead. Potentially thrown off for a split second with Bezzecchi crashing in front of him, Acosta pounced in the final corner, a classic spot at the track for overtakes. Despite this move, Marquez was able to fight back and retake the lead almost instantly with better drive.
For a lot of the race, that was the tale of the two, with Acosta throwing the bike up the inside at turn 12 and Marquez beating him to turn one at the end of the start/finish straight.
It all changed on the penultimate lap with Marc running wide in sector 3, allowing Acosta to dive past before the factory Ducati man unsuccessfully attempted to swoop around the outside in an audacious move. This time when it came to the final corner, it was Marquez’ opportunity to retake the lead, and he did so with a lunge from far behind the KTM rider Acosta, aggressive enough to force himself wide, and Acosta entirely off track.
Controversial at the time, the incident was almost instantaneously placed under investigation as Acosta desperately tried to recover, with mixed reactions to the move around the world. The decision was made with a few corners remaining to give Márquez a drop one position penalty to which the Spaniard duly obliged, allowing Acosta past in the final corner to take his first victory.
In a race full of drama, the podium was rounded out by Trackhouse rider Raul Fernandez, continuing to prove he’s more than worthy of a premier class seat after a stunning end to the 2025 season, with teammate Ai Ogura and fellow Aprilia rider Jorge Martin rounding out the top 5, whilst Bezzecchi was forced to sit in his garage wondering what could’ve been.
Other notable performances came from rookies Diogo Moreira and Toprak Razgatlioglu, with Moto2 World Champion Moreira taking an impressive 13th place. Razgatlioglu crashed towards the end of the race, but was briefly able to show he had similar pace to fellow Yamaha riders, only behind Jack Miller before the unfortunate tip off.
With the first 12 points of the season going to Pedro Acosta, both himself and KTM now lead the MotoGP World Championship for the first time in history, and although it may not last, it shows an impressive recovery after major financial troubles for the factory throughout 2025 threw their MotoGP future into doubt.
Will Acosta be able to repeat his performance in the main race, where both Marquez and Bezzecchi will be out for revenge? Find out tomorrow!
