Spectacular sprint
Pedro Acosta missed by just 41 thousandths to win his second Sprint of 2026. In Barcelona, in the sprint, the KTM Shark was unable to outpace Alex Marquez, who won the home race. The #37’s race was special: starting from pole position, he led the race for a few laps before being overtaken not only by Marquez but also by Raul Fernandez. Then, however, in the last laps, Acosta ‘resurged’ taking first second place and then coming very close to victory, which perhaps would have come with one more lap.
Read more Di Giannantonio, P3 is not enough: “Angry with myself, I messed up the qualifying”
“In the end, we just lacked being a bit faster at the start of the race and also around the middle – Acosta admitted to Sky Sport MotoGP – there was a moment when Alex Marquez passed us, created a gap and then Raul Fernandez did the same. There we lacked a bit of speed, but overall I am really happy with the speed we showed. I managed a race well that was difficult for me last year and for this I am happy”.
Tire wear and long race
“Rear tire wear? Our bike worked well. It is true that one of Ducati’s strengths is good tire management but I am happy to have fought for the win with Alex even keeping this aspect in mind. We also managed the tires well in the end. Tomorrow, with the long race, I think we will have one more opportunity“.
“Winning? We’ll wait, but in the end we have to be realistic about that too – concluded the Murcian rider – we will try to improve a bit with the rear tire, because I struggled a lot to put the power down, but I think we managed it well anyway because in the end I felt I had more grip than at the start“.
Read more GP Catalonia 2026, the Sprint report
