Malaysian MotoGP: Acosta beats Marc Marquez to Sprint victory at Sepang

Sepang, Malaysia - Spanish MotoGP rider Pedro Acosta secured a hard-fought victory in the Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix (MotoGP) Sprint race on October 29, 2023. Racing under overcast skies and light drizzle at the Sepang International Circuit, Acosta's Red Bull KTM Factory Racing team clocked 20 minutes 4.09 seconds (s) to claim the top spot.

His 0.578-second margin of victory was enough to beat fellow Spaniard Marc Marquez of Ducati Lenovo Team, who secured second place. Italian rider Marco Bezzecchi of Aprilia Racing rounded out the podium in third place, finishing 1.310 seconds behind Acosta. Acosta expressed satisfaction with his performance under challenging conditions, acknowledging that mixed weather had often been a struggle for him in the past.

"Normally, in mixed conditions, I don't do such a good job," Acosta confessed, "but today was the day to try. I had nothing to lose, even knowing that Marc was fighting for the championship and Aleix had crashed. It was my opportunity to try something different." He also praised his team for their efforts in improving the front end of his KTM machine, stating that he was determined to avoid repeating the mistakes made during the Australian Grand Prix.

"We are doing a good job," Acosta said, "The guys have been working so hard to improve the front of the bike, so I am very happy for them. We have the second one now, and we didn't mess it up like in Australia. It was a good one."