Pedro Acosta can finally call himself a MotoGP winner after taking victory in the sprint at Buriram on Saturday.
The KTM rider went toe-to-toe with world champion Marc Marquez but emerged on top after a pulsating race that had everything.
Pole position man and favourite Marco Bezzecchi had to witness it all from the Aprilia box after falling while in the lead on lap two of the race.
With Bezzecchi out of the running, a likely battle between the Italian and Marquez turned into a scrap between Acosta and Marquez.
The Spanish youngster would not leave the elder statesman – and likely 2027 colleague at the factory Ducati squad – in peace. The race looked set to be decided at the final corner as Acosta rehearsed a block pass there multiple times – twice succeeding in crossing the finish line first before Marquez re-took the lead.
But the race was ultimately decided in very different fashion. On the penultimate lap, Acosta pounced on a slight error from Marquez in the twisty middle part of the lap, claiming the lead. But that wasn’t the end of it.
Marquez produced a block pass of his own at the end of that lap – but it was anything but clean. He pushed his young challenger well wide, immediately triggering a stewards’ investigation.
Working with remarkable speed, the stewards came to a decision with half a lap remaining. Marc received a dashboard message to the effect that he would have to drop one position.
The 33-year-old complied at the final corner, allowing Acosta his long-awaited first race win in MotoGP.
Raul Fernandez saved some pride for Aprilia by taking a solid third place aboard the Trackhouse entry.
His team-mate Ai Ogura was fourth after passing factory rider Jorge Martin late in the race.
Acosta’s team-mate Brad Binder had a strong afternoon to take sixth, ahead of Joan Mir (Honda) and Fabio di Giannantonio (VR46 Ducati), who lost time in a first-lap incident with Alex Marquez (Gresini Ducati).
With Alex also dropping places in that clash, the way was cleared for Francesco Bagnaia to salvage the final point after missing Q2 earlier in the day and qualifying 13th.
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