Pedro Acosta was eliminated from the Motegi Sprint before he could pursue the podium opportunity he had identified. A poor launch left him fourth behind Marco Bezzecchi at Turn 1, while Enea Bastianini was trying to pass him at Turn 3. At the same time, Alex Marquez misjudged an attempt to overtake Fabio Di Giannantonio and struck Acosta from behind. The incident removed all three riders from the race. Marquez was subsequently handed a double long-lap penalty for Sunday’s Japanese Grand Prix.

“The Sprint ended too soon,” Acosta said, describing the crash as painful while accepting it as part of racing. Across the 12 laps, he believed there was a realistic route to the podium and a chance to recover points from Bezzecchi, who is third in the standings and finished sixth. Acosta regarded victory as too ambitious after seeing Marc Marquez’s pace, but still considered the podium a credible target. The crash therefore cost him both a potential strong result and an opportunity to reduce the gap to a direct championship rival.

The medium-rear tyre remains central

Bezzecchi selected the medium-compound rear tyre after showing consistent FP2 pace in the 1m43s. During the Sprint, however, his laps were in the 1m44s. Jorge Martin and Francesco Bagnaia suffered severe wear at the centre of the rear tyre, making the medium compound a likely choice for most riders on Sunday. Acosta had felt comfortable on the same tyre in FP2, so Bezzecchi’s difficulty over the Sprint distance surprised him. His view was that if the medium proves troublesome for everyone, the resulting disadvantage will at least be shared.