PEDRO ACOSTA MAKES Q2 DESPITE TWO CRASHES IN SILVERSTONE

Pedro Acosta endured a tough start to the British Grand Prix weekend at Silverstone, crashing twice on his KTM RC16—once during practice and again in the afternoon qualifying session. The second incident came at an awkward moment in the time attack window, and after the crash in the corner he was unable to launch another serious bid.

Even so, Acosta and KTM still managed to deliver what he described as a positive outcome: “We must be satisfied—because now we’re directly into Q2. Also, this track isn’t particularly good for my style or for our bike. We knew that from the past, and yet we were close on pace. It’s not much of a gap. That’s a deficit that should make us optimistic. I’m convinced that if everything works and we make no mistakes, then we can fight for podium places.”

The route to Q2 was secured by two strong laps early in the hot phase. Acosta had already been third in FP1, and on softer tyres he improved by 1.6 seconds. For a brief period he even topped the timing sheets, but the session tightened further: after Joan Mir and Jack Miller went through, Acosta ultimately had to settle for 10th—just enough for the crucial passage.

Marking the KTM picture, Enea Bastianini finished 11th in qualifying, while Acosta’s teammate in the Tech3 garage and Vinales’ replacement, according to the report, posted the fastest speed on Friday at 341.7 km/h. Bastianini was also listed as running fourth at one point, ahead of the quickest Ducati.

Asked about the qualifying crash, Acosta said he noticed something specific when it happened: “When it happened, I felt chattering on the bike. We still need to investigate where exactly it came from.” Beyond that, the report noted no further mechanical issues and no sign of any underlying loss of performance on the fast circuit.

Later in the weekend, Acosta also reflected on Saturday’s sprint, describing it as “much worse than everyone expected.” He pointed to the wear of the rear tyres on the British track with a 41-degree track temperature, saying he was one of the riders who benefited most from the grip dropping. He added that Marc Marquez suffered even more than he did: “Marc had still more to suffer than me. It looked like the guys who were further ahead had generally more problems with the breakdown than the rest. But they were also much faster at the start of the race.”

Acosta explained he had to manage the race differently because he often had limited traction early on: “At the beginning of the race I still had little grip. But in this race I started getting problems already in the third lap—back then the race was still long.” He also said the heat played a role, noting it was much warmer than the previous year.

Despite the sprint challenges, he still moved forward to finish sixth, starting from ninth. Speedweek highlighted how closely Acosta felt matched to Aprilia during the weekend, saying he experienced that level of pace “only in one situation: in the pit lane.” He also compared the sprint’s fastest lap to qualifying, quoting Jorge Martin’s 1:57.4 as faster than what “half the field” managed in qualifying. Acosta noted that all three riders on the sprint podium were on Aprilia, and said: “They’ve won here already when Aleix Espargaro was still on the bike.” After the sprint, Acosta remained seventh in the championship with 152 points, seven behind Raul Fernandez.