Pedro Acosta knew immediately after watching him exit Turn 4 that Marc Marquez was in a different league to him in the sprint race at the 2026 Hungarian Grand Prix.
The two Spaniards were the leading stars around Balaton Park on Saturday, as Marquez hit Acosta Pole position b Hungarian GP And then he turned his P1 start into a Sprint Race win. Acosta finished 1.548 seconds behind Marquez.
Just 0.053s separated the Ducati and KTM riders. Marquez got pole for the Hungarian GP Ahead of Acosta at the end of qualifying. But Acosta had no response to the speed of Marquez in the sprint, and it was immediately clear why he did not.
Marc Marquez dominates the Balaton Park Sprint 💪 But who was the rider of the race?
Pedro Acosta knew KTM ‘wasn’t on Ducati’s level’ as Marc Marquez exited Turn 4.
While Michael Laverty claims Marquez Acosta was caught napping in the Balaton Park sprint.The Mazarron native immediately noticed that his compatriot from Cervera had more to do than him as they rushed into the left-hand turn 4 on the first lap.
Read more: Marc Marquez won the Balaton Park Sprint, dominating Pedro Acosta
Although the KTM man was entering the corners more often than not, Márquez left Acosta several times as he exited the corner and went on to win the Sprint Race at the Hungarian GP. Their clear differences in styles convinced Acosta that KTM was “not on Ducati’s level” at this stage.
Acosta said. DAZNWhen we get good results, it looks great from the outside, but from the inside it’s a different story.
“I just want to say that in the first lap 4 turns and I immediately realized, ‘This is too difficult to fight for today’. So, we have to be happy again in the sprint race. We had a normal qualifying session, especially in my weak position.
“So we’re making small steps, right? It’s not easy to improve, especially with the other KTMs struggling so much. So we’re trying to keep our heads above water the best we can.”
Acosta doubts he could have beaten Marquez with a better start in the Balaton Park sprint.
Acosta later added that his handling of Marquez at the Hungarian GP in Sprint was “in another world” compared to his favorite around Balaton Park. And it wasn’t just from Turn 4 that Acosta felt Marquez could make the difference on the Ducati GP26.
Despite his pace in practice and qualifying for most of the season, Acosta is confident Marquez will win the Sprint race, despite how strong his compatriot was in the final sector in front of the seven-time MotoGP champion.
“No, I think with how fast he was in the last sector and coming out of turn 4 he would have had a great chance to pass me,” Acosta said. Crash. “For this, today, P2 was fine.
“I mean, I wasn’t having a good start. So everyone was struggling today, how difficult Turn 1 was. Yeah, everyone was more cautious.
Acosta is the only KTM rider competing consistently at the Hungarian GP this week. He was also the only one to take the KTM RC16 into Q2 at Balaton Park as teammate Brad Binder and Tech3’s Enea Bastianini and Maverick Vinales fell short in Q1.
Bastiani made a good start in the Sprint Race to gain at least five places, and he also finished the Sprint in P8, becoming the only KTM rider to score points on Saturday. Binder finished the sprint 14.828s behind Acosta in P16 and Vinales in P19 with 17.942s.
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