MotoGP KTM rider Pedro Acosta suffered a massive crash during the Hungarian Grand Prix qualifying round at the Balaton Park circuit, where even the gravel trap wasn’t enough to stop his RC16.
The incident occurred on Turn 8, when Acosta lost his bike and slid onto the gravel trap at high speed. But the bike’s momentum meant it continued to slide on the gravel, flipping several times before hitting the camera mounted on a tower at a height of around three meters.
The cameraman, Joao, was taken aback during the impact but luckily escaped injury. The incident occurred within a few seconds, leading many to question the safety measures in place at Balaton Park.
Acosta is said to have missed out on a potential pole position due to the incident. Since his KTM RC16 suffered heavy damage, he had to switch to the secondary bike, eventually qualifying in P7 for the Grand Prix.
The video of the incident posted by MotoGP went viral on social media, with fans offering hilarious reactions, while others raised safety concerns.
MotoGP confirmed that Joao was okay. The caption read:
“Our cameraman, Joao, avoiding @37pedroacosta‘s bike impact is probably the most shocking video you’ll see today! We’re so glad to see he’s ok!”
Some fan reactions are quoted below:
This fan knew about it:
“As I expected, this track is very bad and very bad in terms of layout and safety.”
It seems like cameramen are immortal:
“CAMERAMAN NEVER DIES!!!!!! ———>”
One level above optical zoom?
“Pedro was like: No need to zoom! Here you go”
Not a Balaton Park fan:
“Delete the circuit.”
This fan asked for a fix:
“This Track is Too dangerous, the Run off is too short! Incident during start is very likely to happen! i just hope nobody will get hurt during the race! – this track need to be fix button.”
Another safety question raised:
“Tell us again how and who certified this track as being safe?”
The demands are high these days:
“Too bad he wasn’t pointing the camera straight at the bike that would have been an epic shot.”
In a kind gesture, Acosta later met Joao. In their short interaction, Joao said that the bike did not touch him, but it hit the camera. Acosta was glad that Joao was safe and apologized for the scary encounter. The 21-year-old rider gifted him an autographed knee slider that he wore during the qualifying round.
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