Forward of the fourth occasion of the season at Jerez this weekend, Acosta is fourth within the standings, simply two factors behind third-placed Maverick Vinales and 5 factors behind second-placed Enea Bastianini.
The Spaniard is the best-placed of the 4 KTM riders, with manufacturing facility man Brad Binder 5 factors behind him in sixth and Jack Miller 32 factors adrift in tenth. Acosta’s team-mate Augusto Fernandez has solely seven factors to his tally in comparison with his rating of 54.
With Acosta now extra tailored to the brand new ecosystem and his GasGas Tech3 crew, most of his rivals consider that the following pure goal, victory, will come sooner slightly than later.
The 19-year-old from Murcia has been on the rostrum in Portimao and Austin, the final two occasions on the calendar.
He failed to achieve the rostrum in his first race in Qatar because of a mixture of things together with the excessive degradation of the tyres because of his aggressiveness, and the ache in his forearm, a consequence of the dangerous positioning of the lever of the rear peak machine.
“Pedro jogs my memory of these huge names who as soon as made it to MotoGP: Valentino Rossi, Dani Pedrosa, Jorge Lorenzo or Casey Stoner,” Marquez informed Motorsport.com
“Those that within the first or second races had been already combating for pole, podiums and victories. This yr he’ll get podiums, as he has already finished, and likewise victories. And why not battle for a world championship, like others did.”
The widespread feeling within the paddock is that Acosta has shaken up the championship and particularly the KTM group, though there are these, like Marquez, who consider that the teen’s expertise has not caught anybody unexpectedly, as a result of it was a foregone conclusion.
Marquez says he was by no means stunned by Acosta’s breakthrough in MotoGP, and believes that KTM was effectively conscious of the potential of the younger rookie, who has scored two podiums in his first three races within the high class.
“I do not suppose Pedro shook up the KTM group,” Marquez mentioned. “They knew precisely what they’d. I believe they anticipated it; at the least I anticipated it.
“If you analyse the issues he did in Moto3 and Moto2, you knew he would get to MotoGP and go quick. It is his pure course of,” added Marquez, who’s eighth within the standings, 16 factors behind Acosta.
