Acosta: “People want to see battles like Marquez and Rossi”

The 2024 MotoGP rookie has proven to be a student of the game in many ways, whether that’s showing calmness under pressure despite fighting for Moto3 and Moto2 titles as a teenager, or managing the world’s media to perfection.

And speaking on the MotoGP podcast, Acosta again showed maturity way beyond his years as he discussed the current situation in MotoGP.

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Rivalries, and heated rivalries at that have not been as present as previous years, lately. However, Acosta feels that the sport needs to regain that edge between its riders. 

Acosta said: “Now we see that everyone is so friendly and has a good relationship with everybody, but people want to see battles like Pedrosa and Lorenzo, Marc and Rossi, Lorenzo with Marquez, Rossi with Biaggi, Rossi with Sete, people want this! 

“It’s like Verstappen when he is aggressive in F1, people want this.”

Acosta, who was very impressive during his first test aboard a KTM MotoGP bike at Valencia, will ride for the Tech 3 GASGAS team, meaning he leaves the Red Bull KTM Ajo team for the first time since joining the grand prix paddock in 2021.

Speaking about his very successful stint with the Ajo outfit, Acosta said: “It was a dream to come to the world championship as a factory KTM rider. 

“It was amazing to be in the Red Bull KTM Ajo team and in the end, I grew up with them. For this I was really pushing to have a fifth bike in MotoGP so that I could take all of my team to the MotoGP class. 

“But sometimes life is not easy for this and I understand. It was my ideal dream but it is what it is.”