MotoGP Testing, Sepang Shakedown | Pedro Acosta ends first 2024 MotoGP test up top

Rookie Pedro Acosta continued to turn heads as he completed the first stage of 2024 MotoGP pre-season track time at Sepang with the fastest time of the three day Shakedown test.

The 2023 Moto2 World Champion has had the benefit of participating in all three days of the initial test on account of his rookie status, the Spaniard joining each manufacturer’s development riders on day one before the race entrants for Honda and Yamaha joined on days two and three.

Despite the extra track time, Acosta’s eventual benchmark of 1m 58.189secs on the third and final day in Malaysia was still an impressive and positive sign of things to come for the highly-rated Spaniard, who is tipped to become a force of MotoGP in the coming years.

Riding the new Red Bull-backed GasGas Factory Racing Tech 3 KTM RC16, despite suffering a crash Acosta saw off the challenge from a host of high-profile new rivals, not least the rider he replaces at GasGas Tech 3, Pol Espargaro, who turned in the second fastest time, just under a tenth off Acosta.

In third, Johann Zarco stepped up his and Honda’s pace to complete the test with the third fastest time, 0.3s adrift of Acosta, while Fabio Quartararo led the Yamaha challenge in fourth.

Dani Pedrosa ended the test fifth quickest on the second of the KTM test machines, ahead of Repsol Honda’s Joan Mir, Yamaha new boy Alex Rins and new Repsol Honda recruit, Luca Marini.

Including Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha) and Takaaki Nakagami in tenth, each of the riders inside the top ten would complete the test – which was curtailed due to heavy rain in the afternoon – within a second of Acosta’s best time.