After spending multiple laps trying to get through Pedro Acosta at Indonesia’s MotoGP, Luca Marini praised the Spanish rider’s defensive riding.
Acosta led early, but was soon killed by Fermin Ardegare. He won in almost seven seconds.
His fight was then played on multiple laps with Marini, allowing the Italian to pass twice on turn 12. In both cases, Acosta was able to respond. First, turn 13, then 16 turns.
Marini finished fifth after contact with Raul Fernandez, and Acosta was able to recover, losing a little later to Alex Marquez.
Marini in particular was impressed by Acosta’s defensive display after the race.
“Everyone blocked Pedro (Acosta) completely and he had a great race,” Luca Marini said after Indonesia’s Motogupu.
“KTM allows them to brake Super Deep every time, and he also used the medium (compound) front (tyres) even for this.
“So it’s very difficult to overtake. I tried many times and he overtook me again.
Marini added that his own race was affected by the misery of tire pressure he encountered in the sprint.
“After the race (Saturday), I was a bit worried about it, so I managed a bit of my tyre pressure,” the Honda HRC rider said.
“But I think I had a good pace to easily join P2. I just had to pass Pedro well and make sure he didn’t overtake me again.”