18th and 1.2s from the top at last November’s Valencia MotoGP test was a solid dꦜebut performance by star rookie Pedro Acosta.

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

Acosta was fast over all three days, saving his best for last by finishing top of🧸 the timesh🍰eets.

Sure, Ac🦄osta was competing against test riders and only six full-time 🥂racers, from Yamaha and Honda, thanks to the new concessions.

But the test riders on the sameꦜ KTM bike included 31-time MotoGP winner Dani Pedrosa, who fought for podiums as a wild-card last sea🌠son, and ten-year premier-class veteran Pol Espargaro.

The race riders also included two fo♔rmer MotoGP champions in Fabio Quartararo and Joan Miꦚr, plus race winners Alex Rins and Johann Zarco.

Acosta’s best time of 1m 58.189s was un💞der the official S🎀epang race lap record and just over half-a-second from the all-time pole record.

The final day wasn’t without incident 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, certainly turned heads. The big question now is how Acos🔥ta (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 workဣ on my 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 ev🥂en got a bit of time in the wet, which is always a bonus.

“I t🦹ried 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 other riders, because I was s﷽t𝄹ruggling a bit in Turns 5 and 6, and understand everything a bit more.

“Very happy, now I 🐼am going to enjoy two days of re🐟st!"