18th and 1.2s from the top at last November’s Valencia MotoGP test was a solid 🎃debut performance by st🎶ar rookie Pedro Acosta.

But MotoGP’s most eagerly anticipated newcomer since Marc Marquez stepped up a gꦜear at the Sepang Shakedown.

Ac𓃲osta was fast over a🔯ll three days, saving his best for last by finishing top of the timesheets.

Sure, Acosta was competing a♔gainst test riders and only six full-time racers, from Yamaha and Honda, thanks to the new concessions.

But the test riders o🧸n 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 Espar🍬garo.

The race riders also included two former MotoGP champions in Fa🐻bio Quartararo ෴and Joan Mir, plus race winners Alex Rins and Johann Zarco.

Acosta’s best time of 1m 58.189s was unde🎃r the official Sepang race lap record and just over half-a-se🌊cond from the all-time pole record.

The final day wasn’t without incident for the Spanish teenager, who s🐎uffered his first MotoGP fall at lunchtime, then a second spill while completꦬing 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, certainly 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 my riding styl💫e, 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 alꦡways a bonus𒆙.

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

“In the Sepang Test, we will try to follow the lines of the other riders, because I was 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 🐬rest!"