MotoGP Thailand D3, Debriefing Pedro Acosta (KTM/3): "it's much better since we switched to Michelin", etc. (full)

The best defense is attack, that's what he did. George Martin at the start of the Grand Prix MotoGP from Australia Thailand, before bowing to a Francis Bagnaia untouchable on Sunday in the wet, and to limit as much as possible the erosion of its lead in the championship, now made up of 17 points.

As usual, we report here his words during his debriefing, without the slightest formatting, even if it is translated from English.

Ladies and gentlemen, good morning and welcome to the post-race press conference of the PT Grand Prix of Thailand in Buriram at Chang International Circuit, a very intense Thailand Grand Prix.
Ducati Lenovo Team rider Pecco Bagnaia took his 9th Sunday win of the season, Pecco now has 15 wins in 2024. For second place, it's the 28th podium of the season for Jorge Martin, still 17 points ahead in the world championship. And his first podium in wet weather for Red Bull GASGAS Tech3, congratulations to Pedro Acosta! Gentlemen, first of all, congratulations to all three of you, it must have been a very long and demanding race in these conditions, with the rain falling just over an hour before the start…

To complete today's podium, as we mentioned, his first podium in wet conditions in MotoGP, congratulations to Red Bull GASGAS Tech3 rider Pedro Acosta. Well done Pedro! It was a very long and difficult race for you, especially considering your lack of experience in these conditions, and you must be very happy to be on the podium in Thailand...
Peter Acosta : “Yes, of course. We have to be happy because in the end, after many races, we finished one, which is a good thing. We have to continue in this way thinking that when it is not our day, we cannot make it our day, and we have to be a little bit calmer to take the experience. But today was a good day, maybe I had more trouble getting into the rhythm compared to the warm-up, and I also went wide in the first part of the race, in Turn 3, and then in Turn 1. I thought to myself, ‘OK, maybe we have to calm down a little bit and continue on the rhythm.
It is true that at the end of the race I do not know what happened, from one moment to the next I said "boom" and I started going very fast. For this we must be happy and keep in mind that we have to finish the races.

Great battle with Brad Binder and Jack Miller. Looking from the outside, we certainly enjoyed the battle for 3rd place that you had with Jack. I guess you enjoyed it too, especially for a podium, Pedro…
"Yes, it was a very good battle. I also knew that it was a battle for the podium and I told myself that it was now or never. It's true that it's always great to fight with Jack because he's quite aggressive but he knows the limits, let's say. For that, I really enjoyed it, fortunately also that we didn't do anything stupid because otherwise (laughs), the afternoon in the garage would have been long. But hey, we have to be happy and see how we can improve the first part of the races."

Pedro, in Moto2 you needed several wet races to be competitive, whereas in MotoGP you were very competitive from the first wet session in Qatar. What is the difference with MotoGP?
“I don’t know why I’ve never been really competitive in Moto2. Only in the Australian race last year, I started from the back of the grid and I was quite fast. But I’ve never been really fast, because I remember in 22 here, I started 5th and at the second corner I was 20th, you know. It’s true that when I was in Moto2, with the Dunlop tyres, it was quite tricky, also because you could feel them like stone. For that, I don’t know but it’s much better since we switched to Michelin. If you think about it, all the riders who switched to KTM in those difficult conditions, in the wet, have been very good. Remember Oliveira in 22, Brad underwater in Spielberg, and how fast Pol was, even at the beginning of the project. For that, Mattighofen is doing a very good job.”

Pedro, when you realized that you had the right feeling to push with the rain tires, it was thanks to the first part of the race where you built this feeling, and then it was the trigger, as you said?
“Well, I had a lot of trouble warming up the discs. I don’t know why, since I’ve been in MotoGP it takes me a little longer than Jack and Brad, for example. And then I didn’t have the best feeling with the rear tyre, as Jorge said, in Turns 5 and 6. I was spinning a lot and I felt like I was riding on ice, you know. For that, it was quite difficult to analyse, also in my head, because I was starting to press all the buttons to try to get everything out, you know. And it was quite difficult at the beginning, also to go wide in Turn 3, in Turn 1, but it’s true that at one point, as I said, with 5 or 6 laps to go, it was like putting a switch and we started to go fast. It’s difficult to understand, but we were on the right track.”