Super Saturday delivered as always today at the iconic Silverstone circuit for the British Grand Prix, with Red Bull GASGAS Tech3’s Pedro Acosta and Augusto Fernandez disputing the qualifying sessions and the Tissot Sprint in typical cloudy conditions. From Q1, Pedro Acosta qualified in P9 on the grid, before he got himself a brilliant top 5 finish, while Augusto Fernandez completed the Tissot Sprint in 13th, after starting from 17th on the grid.

As he narrowly missed out on a direct Q2 ticket after Friday’s Practice, Pedro Acosta’s work from overnight paid off as he found his way to the final qualifying stage, when he rode the second fastest lap of Q1, a 1'58.408 just 0.035 seconds behind a late lap of Alex Marquez who claimed the top of the session in the final seconds. At 11:15, they were twelve riders left in the game for the British pole. In run 1, Acosta rode a 1’58.312 that provisionally placed him in P7. As the final time attacks came around, Pedro was improving his sectors, but a late yellow flag prevented him from improving his lap time, and his 1’58.312 placed him on row three in P9 ahead of the afternoon’s Tissot Sprint. At 15:00 LT, it was time for ten laps of madness, while the wind made itself feel present. Lights out, from P9, Pedro Acosta took a solid start as he sneaked to P6 behind Brad Binder after the first corners, with Marc Marquez just behind. A crash at the back had messed things around, but after a few corners, we already saw the big dogs Jorge Martin, Enea Bastianini, Francesco Bagnaia and Aleix Espargaro take the front. As Acosta closed on Binder, he tried a move on his future teammate on the inside, but a contact between the two Pierer Mobility riders saw Acosta lose his left wing. Not great when it’s pretty windy out there. The Shark slowed down just a bit to settle in P7 with Alex Marquez close behind, while opportunist Marc Marquez had moved past Binder-Acosta, to P4. After a couple of laps, the front four was far gone, Marc Marquez had escaped too, and that left Acosta chasing for the Red Bull KTM Factory rider. Francesco Bagnaia crashed at the front, and later on it was Marc Marquez’ turn, placing Pedro in the top 5, a spot he had to defend until the very end, but it all worked out well for the rookie, even with one wing, as he scored five points and brought his total to 115 points.  

On the #37’s side of the garage, Augusto Fernandez started the day with some progress made throughout the opening Free Practice 2, allowing him to head to the qualifying shootout with a bit more confidence. In a tight Q1, the Spaniard showed competitiveness, lapping his best of the session in 1’59.012. Despite being just 0.639 seconds off the top, he finished 7th, and qualified in P17 on the grid. In the afternoon’s Tissot Sprint, Augusto took a decent start as lights went out, and from P17, he found himself in P14 after the opening lap, behind Fabio Quartararo, a position he held on to most of the race. The crashes ahead gave him the opportunity to get closer to the top 10, in P12, until Raul Fernandez eventually caught him back within two laps to go. Augusto saw the checkered flag in thirteenth today, and will be looking forward to more tomorrow on the long distance, as the main race is scheduled at 13:00 (GMT+1).