It was a special Super Saturday in Montmelo for the Red Bull GASGAS Tech3 team, with our rookie sensation Pedro Acosta celebrating his twentieth birthday, and of course, the young Shark made it even more special as he took his second sprint medal this afternoon, claiming third of an eventful afternoon show! Augusto Fernandez qualified in eighteenth on the grid, and completed the sprint in seventeenth. 

After closing day 1 of the Catalan Grand Prix action third fastest, the Shark was eager to make his birthday special on home turf, and Super Saturdays are made for that! As he worked on a few twists in the Free Practice 2, MotoGP™’s #31 clocked in the fifth best lap of the session with a 1’39.646. The first big moment of the weekend was when the twelve fastest riders went on track to fight for the sixth pole position at stake this season, a much wanted one on Catalan soils in front of many riders’ home crowd. After three laps, Acosta was provisionally in first with a 1’38.369, before Francesco Bagnaia moved up to first shortly after that, and then it was Brad Binder. While home hero Aleix Espargaro took the pole position, Acosta was set to start from fifth on the grid. As the lights went out for this afternoon’s Tissot Sprint, Acosta took an incredible start, going from P5 to P2 to find himself right behind Bagnaia in the first corner, ahead of Raul Fernandez. The next lap, he took the lead on the world champion, but the numero uno was not going to let it go that easily and got his lead back quickly. The first laps were fire, until a contact with Raul Fernandez saw Acosta drop down to P3. While the Trackhouse rider was leading, he bowed to pressure and crashed on lap 5, and Pedro was back in second behind Binder. Not far, Marc Marquez and Aleix Espargaro were coming back big time with a strong pace. Managing the tyres on such a low-grip track was a big challenge for the rookie, but he held on pretty well, settled in P4, until the luck was on his side when sprint leader Bagnaia crashed in the final lap. Pedro Acosta took his second sprint medal, in third, the perfect way to celebrate his birthday!

Despite a late crash in Practice on Friday, Augusto Fernandez’ feeling on the bike was positive as he closed the gap on his rivals. Despite his eighteenth place yesterday, he was less than one second away from the leader. After the final Free Practice 2 this morning which he finished 0.658 secs off the top of the timesheets, the Red Bull GASGAS Tech3 rider headed to a busy qualifying 1, with the likes of the Marquez brothers and Fabio Quartararo, but it was Raul Fernandez and Fabio Di Giannantonio who eventually made it through. Lap 6/8 was his best, in 1’39.120, which placed him in nineteenth on the grid ahead of the afternoon’s Tissot Sprint. On the grid at 15:00 local time, the stage was set for a hot sprint when Fernandez lined up. When the lights went out, the #37 struggled to brake, which caused him a significant loss of time in the opening lap. He found himself last, and from there, kept going to take the experience ahead of Sunday’s main race. He finished in P17, and will be looking forward to trying again on the long distance.