Moto3 Champion Pedro Acosta may have taken a little longer than he wanted to acclimatise to Moto2 but the Red Bull KTM Ajo is now back on top.

With both his first pole and victory already under his belt in only the first half of his debut season in the intermediate class, the rookie backed his Mugello win up with a second podium at the Sachsenring. A training accident ahead of Assen, however, dented the Spaniard’s momentum and sent him into the summer break earlier than planned with a broken femur.

“It is important to come back in the best possible shape, and these weeks off allow me to focus even more on returning to one hundred per cent fitness,” Acosta said of his recent injury. “I am doing many hours of physical therapy and I am working hard in the gym to lose as little muscle mass as I can.

“Adapting to Moto2 hasn't been as easy as I would have liked, but if it were easy it wouldn't be as fun,” he continued, reflecting on the first half of the year. “In the end it gives us extra motivation to continue working and give our best. I think we've taken the necessary time to adapt and get to where we are today.

“It's positive, despite the fact that we did not start the year as we would have liked. After two consecutive races out of the points in Argentina and Portugal, and crashing in France when I was leading, we were able to turn the situation around.

“We came into the summer break with a win, a second place and a pole, so we are at the point we wanted to be, although I would have liked to have reached that level at the start of the season.

“We have shown that we have pace, and we are strong in that respect,” the 18-year-old continued. “Despite starting from far back in several races, I have been able to fight back and finish in a good position - and even battle for the win. We still have room for improvement, but it was important that we were strong in terms of pace.”

While the Italian GP brought Acosta his debut rookie win, it wasn’t his favourite from the opening ten rounds.

“Le Mans was one of the best races, even though we missed out on the win because of the crash,” he admitted. “It was the moment in which we took that step forward that allowed us to be at the top. Sachsenring was also a special round, because we started from the back of the grid and worked our way up to the podium. All of the races have been good, but I would put these two even above the victory at Mugello.

“The most important thing now is to come back and get on the pace again,” he said, looking ahead to the nine remaining races of 2022. “Due to the injury we will have to start again, going step-by-step and not making mistakes, to be at the same level as we were in Germany.

“Qualifying is the point on which we have to work the most,” he acknowledged. “If we manage to be strong on Saturdays, it would be a great boost for the races. We have the pace, but it is important that on Sunday we start from a good position on the grid.

“The goal is to try to end the year in the best possible way. This is my first season in Moto2 and we have completed the first half of the season in good shape, in terms of my fitness. We want to get back to that point as soon as possible and continue with that progress that we have been making up to now.”