Pedro Acosta believes he is "getting closer and closer" to a first win in MotoGP after finishing second behind winner Jorge Martin during the Indonesian Grand Prix.
The Spanish rookie produced arguably the most convincing performance of his short MotoGP career so far, as he muscled his way up to second place during the early stages before closing the gap to race leader Martin.
While his bid for victory ran out of steam in the closing laps, the GasGas Tech3 rider brought his KTM home second to equal his best finish of the season, just 1.4s shy of the win.
His fourth podium of the season marked a welcome return to form for Acosta, after crashing in both Misano races, and lifted the 2023 Moto2 world champion back ahead of KTM stablemate Brad Binder in their fight for status as the highest placed non-Ducati rider in the standings.
With five rounds of the season remaining, the rookie sits fifth on the leaderboard.
"We need to be happy because we have got this consistency inside the top five, which against Ducati is not easy," reflected Acosta.
"But we are getting closer and closer."
Acosta, who will join the factory KTM squad next year that the Austrian manufacturer confirmed on Monday will be headed up by Aki Ajo, admitted to prioritising a safe return home over taking risks to get on terms with championship leader Martin's Pramac Ducati.
"Since Thursday I have said this is a good track for us and KTM, so I'm happy because I needed to finish a race," he reflected.
"In Misano we had good pace and I was competitive, but in both I crashed.
"I tried to catch him but I had a moment on lap 16 that allowed him to pull away again, so I say that maybe it is better to have second place than to have another crash."
Shortly after Acosta had taken the chequered flag in second, the race control issued a message stating that the Spanish rider was under investigation for a potential breach of MotoGP's tyre pressure rules.
However, post-race technical checks revealed that the loss of pressure was down to a leak in the tyre rim, and the stewards subsequently cleared him of any wrongdoing.
Shortly after Acosta had taken the chequered flag in second, the race control issued a message stating that the Spanish rider was under investigation for a potential breach of MotoGP's tyre pressure rules.
However, post-race technical checks revealed that the loss of pressure was down to a leak in the tyre rim, and the stewards subsequently cleared him of any wrongdoing.
