18th and 1.2s from the top at last November’s Valencia MotoGP test was a solid debut performance b𓄧y star rookie Pedrಞo Acosta.

But MotoGP’s most eagerly anticipated neᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚwcomer since Marc Marquez stepped up a gear at the Sepang Shakedown.

Acosta w🐠a✤s fast over all three days, saving his best for last by finishing top of the timesheets.

Sure, Acosta was competing against test riders and only s💧ix full-time racers, from Yamaha and Honda, than💙ks to the new concessions.

But the test riders on the same KTM bike included 31-time MotoGP winner Dani Pedrosa, who fought for podiums as a wild-card last season, and ten-year premier-class veteran Pol Espꦇargar🤪o.

The race riders a🗹lso included two former MotoGP champions in Fabio Quartararo and Joan Mir, plus race winners Alex Rins and Johann Zarco🔯.

Acosta’s best time of 1m 58.189s was under the official Sepang r🌜ace lap record and just over half-🌠a-second from the all-time pole record.

The final day wasn’t without incid🍸ent for the Spanish teenager, who suffered his first MotoGP fall at lunchtime, then a second spill while completing his first wet MotoGP laps in the final hour, after a thunderstorm had drenched the circuit.

But his performance, plus the pace of all the KTM riders on the latest RC16, certainl⛦y turned heads. The big question now is how Acosta (and KTM) will measure up against the full MotoGP field at the same track during the official test from February 6-8.

"We spent these three days mainly trying to work on myꦺ riding style, trying to understand the🍒 tyres in MotoGP, find a bike set up, and we have to be happy with this first test,” Acosta said.

“We did some good fast laps, but we most importantly had a good race pace on the dry. We even got♔ a bit of time in the wet, which is always a bonus.

꧋“I tried to follow Dani Pedrosa a bit today, and it was not that easy!

“In the Sepang Test, we will try to follow the lines of the o𝄹ther riders, because I wasඣ struggling a bit in Turns 5 and 6, and understand everything a bit more.

“Very happy, now I am going to enjoy two days of r﷽est!"