The Spaniard got a perfect launch of the line as he jumped Vinales off the line to take the earlier lead.

In the earlier laps, he fought against Martin and Marquez for the lead before Marquez lost the front at turn 12 hairpin allowing Acosta a clear run at the front.

However, the rookie’s pace at the front was unmatched compared to Maverick Vinales’s pace, who was making his way through the field and, in the later laps, made light work on Acosta to take the lead.

With this hard-fought second-place result, Acosta proved that he is well adept at defending and attacking against the very best that MotoGP offers and with this result, he now finds himself in fourth place in the championship as the top KTM rider.

“[I enjoyed] a lot!” said Pedro Acosta. “I mean it has been many years that I have not been enjoying [something] like this.”

“I mean you cannot imagine how much fun I had overtaking these riders when they were touching me [and] when Jorge passed me one or two times and then I recovered the position.”

Being a rookie, Acosta is learning how to adapt to the powerful MotoGP bikes at newer tracks, meaning he becomes more and more prepared the closer he gets to Sunday. Hence, he feels that in order to get the most from his bike, making mistakes will be the key to improvement.

“It was nice to make mistakes, you know, because everything that happens on Saturday we can be sure [to improve] for Sunday, so for this we need to be more than happy about [our progress].”

When asked about how he felt when leading from the front for the first time, the Spaniard replied:

“When I saw myself that I was first and with the mediums, and I didn’t really know that if the other guys had the medium rear, I said Okay, you need to manage the race like you want and play with the boys.”

“When Jorge was passing me I always tried to pass him again to try to slow down the group to save the tires because otherwise it was gonna be super difficult [to manage the tires] but anyway we need to be happy with back-to-back podiums.”

In two weeks time, MotoGP paddock will be heading to Jerez to start its run of European circuits and Acosta is very much looking forward to racing on his home soil. However, he will be acquainted with another successful Spanish rider who also knows his way around the Spanish circuit:

“Well, we have one more rider, and that is Dani Pedrosa, who will be there, you know, and he knows how to ride there for sure,” said Acosta. “It’s a super nice opportunity to ride with him to learn how to ride there.”

“I’m going to be strong again, and I don’t want to think [much] about [the next race]. Let’s enjoy today, and tomorrow it’s going to be a new day.”