What an opening weekend at the Qatar Airways Grand Prix of Qatar it has been for Red Bull GASGAS Tech3, suddenly propelled into the media spotlight thanks to the performances of our new recruit and rookie sensation Pedro Acosta. The two-time World Champion of nineteen years old just lived his MotoGP™ dream at his fullest, after he completed his first-ever race in the main category. However, he did not ‘just complete it’, he was unbelievable and fought like he had been there for a few seasons already. Acosta claimed a brilliant P9 on Sunday in Doha after his eighth position in yesterday’s Tissot Sprint, while teammate Augusto Fernandez could not negotiate more than a P17, although small steps were made.

PEDRO ACOSTA. The hype is real. After an impressive pre-season, we knew that it would come down to the first race weekend of the season, but the boy did not disappoint at all. Qualified directly to Q2 on Saturday, P8 on the grid, P8 in the Tissot Sprint, Acosta went for more on Sunday as he lit up the MotoGP™ grid, fearless, fighting for the top positions against the big guns, and keeping us all on our toes. Where was he going to stop? When the lights went out at 20:00 (GMT+3) for the first time of the season, he lost a couple of positions to P10 after being a bit shaken by Jack Miller forcing his way, but he regained positions within two laps as he overtook Aleix Espargaro and Fabio Di Giannantonio. He rode a 1’52.657 on lap 2, his fastest lap, and the fastest of the race. Incredible. The next lap, he took on Ducati Factory rider Enea Bastianini to find his spot behind Alex Marquez. He was P6 on lap 3. But Acosta was not going to stop the fun there, right? Next was Alex Marquez, who he brilliantly picked off on lap 4. Next, the brother, Marc Marquez. The Shark was lapping faster than the eight-time world champion and progressively caught up with the #93, until he dived underneath the Gresini rider on lap 11. Fearless. He was P4 halfway through the race. He was caught back by the two brothers a few laps later, as his pace started to decelerate slightly. Bastianini, Di Giannantonio and Espargaro eventually caught back on the rookie who struggled a bit more within the final five laps, and he took the checkered flag in P9 after an incredible race. We already can't wait to see the next one.

On his side, Augusto Fernandez’ struggles continued to haunt him, after a pre-season far from ideal. He was starting from P18 again today following a tricky qualifying. When the lights went out, he managed a decent start to P16 within two laps, until P15 in lap 6 behind Alex Rins. The next lap was his fastest, 1’53.214, 0.557 seconds from the fastest race lap. He held his point-scoring position for a while, but eventually Marco Bezzecchi increased the pace and took over. A few laps before the end, Augusto’s rhythm dropped a bit more and he lost one more position to Miguel Oliveira. He finished P17, outside of the points, a disappointing result for Fernandez, but he came out with positives from today’s race, positives that he will bring to Portimao in two weeks, as Red Bull GASGAS Tech3 heads back to Europe for the Portuguese Grand Prix, on March 22-24, 2024.