Marco Bezzecchi
Pedro Acosta knew straight away that Marc Marquez was in a different league to him in the Sprint Race at the 2026 Hungarian Grand Prix after what he saw exiting Turn 4.
The two Spaniards were the leading stars around Balaton Park on Saturday, as Marquez beat Acosta to secure pole position for the Hungarian GP and then converted his P1 start into the victory in the Sprint Race. Acosta finished 1.548s behind Marquez after a lonely Sprint in P2.
Just 0.053s had separated the Ducati and KTM riders as Marquez got pole for the Hungarian GP ahead of Acosta at the very end of qualifying. But Acosta did not have a response for the speed in the Sprint that Marquez found, and it was immediately clear to him why he did not.
Total domination by Marc Marquez in the Balaton Park Sprint 💪 But who was your rider of the race?
Pedro Acosta knew KTM were ‘not at Ducati’s level’ as soon as Marc Marquez exited Turn 4
While Michael Laverty claimed Marquez caught Acosta “napping” in the Balaton Park Sprint, the Mazarron native instantly noticed that his compatriot from Cervera had vastly more grip than him as soon as they accelerated out of the left-hand Turn 4 on the first lap of the dash.
READ MORE: Marc Marquez takes a dominant Balaton Park Sprint win over Pedro Acosta
Marquez often left Acosta in his wake out of the corners en route to winning the Sprint Race at the Hungarian GP, despite the KTM man often gaining ground into the corners. Their clear differences in styles even convinced Acosta that KTM are “not at Ducati’s level” at this stage.
Acosta told DAZN: “It looks great from the outside when we get good results, but from the inside it’s a different story. Right now, we’re not at Ducati’s level, especially over short distances.
“I mean, I’d only just come out of Turn 4 on the first lap and I realised straight away, ‘This is going to be really tough to fight for today’. So, we have to be happy again with the Sprint race. We had a normal qualifying session, especially in my weak spot.
“So, we’re making small steps, aren’t we? It’s not easy to make progress, especially given the other KTMs are struggling so much. So, we’re trying to get our heads above water any way we can.”
Acosta doubts he could have beaten Marquez with a better start in the Balaton Park Sprint
Acosta later added that he found Marquez’s grip level during the Sprint at the Hungarian GP was on “another world” compared to what he enjoyed around Balaton Park. It was also not only out of Turn 4 where Acosta felt Marquez could make the difference on his Ducati GP26.
Despite the speed that he had shown throughout practice and for most of qualifying, Acosta is convinced that Marquez would have still won the Sprint Race even if he had got in front of the seven-time MotoGP champion due to how strong his compatriot was in the final sector.
“No, I think for how fast he was in the last sector and going out of Turn 4, he would have had a big opportunity to pass me,” Acosta later noted, via Crash. “For this, today, P2 was OK.
“I mean, I was not making a great start. Then it’s true that everyone was struggling today, for how tricky Turn 1 was. Yeah, everyone was more careful.”
Acosta is the only KTM rider who has consistently been competitive at the Hungarian GP this week. He was also the only rider to haul the KTM RC16 into Q2 in qualifying at Balaton Park, as teammate Brad Binder and Tech3’s Enea Bastianini and Maverick Vinales fell short in Q1.
Bastianini at least made a great start in the Sprint Race to gain five places, and he also went on to finish the Sprint in P8 as the only other KTM racer to score points on Saturday. Binder finished the Sprint 14.828s behind Acosta in P16, while Vinales in P19 was 17.942s behind.
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