Pedro Acosta finished the Malaysian Grand Prix in fifth place after a difficult start to his weekend.

Across the Malaysian Grand Prix, Pedro Acosta had a mixed weekend that finally finished on a positive note. The Spaniard finished in fifth place, but Acosta was happy to finish such a difficult race.

Acosta's weekend started off on the back foot as he finished 11th on Friday afternoon. This meant that the MotoGP rookie did not make his way automatically into Qualifying Two on Saturday.

The Spaniards Saturday did not get much better as he qualified in 13th place on the grid. The Red Bull GasGas Tech3 rider finished the Sprint Race in ninth place and picked up a singular point.

Acosta's Sunday was much better than his Friday and Saturday. The 20-year-old ended the Sunday morning Warm-Up session in fifth and then finished the Grand Prix in fifth, picking up 11 points.

"Well I am happy, it was important that we finished the race," Acosta said. "It was a good position to finish in fifth. I do not like to say this but it is true, that I have lost a lot of points during this year by making stupid mistakes.

"Anyway, we need to be happy. It was not easy for us in these conditions and Ducati was quite strong. Anyway, we managed after yesterday, which was a complete disaster, we made some very good steps so we need to be happy."

Acosta moved up in the standings and is now fifth in the MotoGP World Championship. The MotoGP rookie cannot move any higher up in the standings but with one round left of the season, he will have to battle with Brad Binder to hold onto his top-five finish.