Acosta-Marquez crash wasn’t a fluke, KTM need to provide answers

14:30, 20 May

Andrew McLarney is a MotoGP reporter for GPBlog. With three years as a professional writer across the sports and video game industries, his early passion for combat sports evolved into a deep interest in UFC and eventually motorsport — with MotoGP becoming his primary focus. On top of that he is also an avid follower of MXGP and AMA Supercross as well as F1 and GT racing.

Now that the dust has settled after a hectic and horrofic Catalan Grand Prix, many questions are being raised about what may have led to several dramatic accidents. From technical failures to circuit conditions, many questions need answering in the wake of a dark and troubling weekend.

Pedro Acosta's engine failure, which led to the devastating and near-fatal crash of Alex Marquez, was not an isolated incident, and reporters have noticed one key which indicates KTM have some serious explaining to do.

Acosta's cut-out was not exactly an isolated incident. Those who watched the race live will remember Brad Binder experiencing a similar problem on his way to the grid. The South African rider had to pull into the pits to change bikes before the race had even begun, and was only brought back into it at all thanks to the double-red flag incidents.

Experience motorsport journalist, Johnny Hopper, who primarily works as a Supercross and Motocross analyst, gave a detailed breakdown of the incident and highlighed how KTM might have been running 'leaner' engine settings for both Acosta and Binder's bikes.

Leaner engine settings are more efficient on fuel and acceleration as they burn a fuel-air mix at a lower ratio, and this seems to be exactly the sort of setting which would lead to a cut-out while accelerating, as Acosta did.

It is no secret that KTM has a performance deficit to many of the other manufacturers, particularly Ducati and Aprilia, with only Acosta's raw talent keeping him in the top 5 consistently. Therefore the idea that the team might use such workarounds to make up the performance gap is certainly not out of the question.

Acosta arguably deserved to win the race and fought incredibly valiantly to hold up his rivals, but the team will certainly need to provide some data about what led to cut-out for both their riders.

Had it been just Acosta's bike, we could easily chalk it up to bad luck, but when lightning strikes in the same race, for the same team, you have to wonder whether there was something more to it.

Pos.	Driver	Team	Points
1	Kimi Antonelli Kimi Antonelli	MercedesMER	100
2	George Russell George Russell	MercedesMER	80
3	Charles Leclerc Charles Leclerc	FerrariFER	63
4	Lando Norris Lando Norris	McLarenMCL	51
5	Lewis Hamilton Lewis Hamilton	FerrariFER	49
6	Oscar Piastri Oscar Piastri	McLarenMCL	43
7	Max Verstappen Max Verstappen	Red Bull RacingRBR	26
8	Oliver Bearman Oliver Bearman	HaasHAA	17
9	Pierre Gasly Pierre Gasly	AlpineALP	16
10	Liam Lawson Liam Lawson	Racing BullsRCB	10
11	Franco Colapinto Franco Colapinto	AlpineALP	5
12	Arvid Lindblad Arvid Lindblad	Racing BullsRCB	4
13	Isack Hadjar Isack Hadjar	Red Bull RacingRBR	4
14	Carlos Sainz Carlos Sainz	WilliamsWIL	4
15	Gabriel Bortoleto Gabriel Bortoleto	AudiAUD	2
16	Esteban Ocon Esteban Ocon	HaasHAA	1
17	Alexander Albon Alexander Albon	WilliamsWIL	1
18	Nico Hulkenberg Nico Hulkenberg	AudiAUD	0
19	Valtteri Bottas Valtteri Bottas	CadillacCAD	0
20	Sergio Perez Sergio Perez	CadillacCAD	0
21	Fernando Alonso Fernando Alonso	Aston MartinAST	0
22	Lance Stroll Lance Stroll	Aston MartinAST	0

Acosta-Marquez crash wasn’t a fluke, KTM need to provide answers

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