Pedro Acosta says MotoGP should stick to its original schedule for the Australian Grand Prix if wind is the only matter of concern and there is no risk of poor visibility due to rain.
Heavy winds reaching speeds of up to 50km/h are forecast on Sunday, prompting several riders, including Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia, to suggest that the race should be brought forward by a day.
Many point to the 2023 Phillip Island weekend as proof that adjusting the schedule well in advance is the right approach. On that occasion, moving the grand prix to Saturday allowed the race to be held safely, with only the sprint race having to be cancelled after it was shifted to Sunday.
However, Acosta said it is important to draw a distinction to the 2023 Australian GP, when riders had to face the dual threat of rain and high wind speeds.
The Spaniard took part in the Moto2 event on Sunday when the conditions were at their worst, with 10 out of 30 riders crashing out and the race being red-flagged after just nine of the scheduled 23 laps.
“We have to race on Sunday,” said the factory KTM rider.
“Look, we have to separate what happened in 2023 from what happened this year. I raced that Sunday in Moto2, there was an 80km/h wind, it was raining, and a lot of things came together.
“You couldn’t see anything because the sky was so dark, it felt like we were racing at night.
“But if it’s sunny and the temperature is expected to be fine… the wind is an element, the danger is that 50 things come together.
“I could understand changing the race day, but if it’s only wind, we have to race on Sunday.”
Pedro Acosta, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing
Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / LAT Images / via Getty Images
Acosta scraped through Q2 with a time of 1m27.145s in Friday practice, edging out Indonesian GP winner Fermin Aldeguer by just 0.005s. He suffered a small crash at Turn 4 around halfway through the session, but was able to get going again with limited damage to the bike.
The fastest KTM was wildcard rider Pol Espargaro, who took advantage of a slipstream from Johann Zarco to finish eighth-quickest ahead of Ducati’s Bagnaia.
Acosta was satisfied with how the opening day of running went at Phillip Island, but believes he could have finished higher up the timesheets if he hadn’t made a mistake on his final flying lap.
“The day went very well,” he said. “We have more potential than we showed. A retired kid [Espargaro] beat me!
“We have to be happy because we saved the day by going straight into Q2, something that at one point looked like it was going to be difficult.
“I struggled to put together a fast lap. I started in the group with Marco Bezzecchi and Pol Espargaro, and just as I was going fast, I had a scare and didn’t want to crash.
“We saved the day, but I think we have more potential, but we need to work on the bike because it moves a lot and is quite unstable.”
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