NEW RED BULL GASGAS TECH3’S DUO ACOSTA-FERNANDEZ COMPLETE THREE DAY-SEPANG TEST WITH SUCCESS

Red Bull GASGAS Tech3 completed the three day-Sepang MotoGP™ Official Test on Thursday, a key final day for Pedro Acosta and Augusto Fernandez to complete their program in Malaysia, before another two testing days await them next weekend in Doha, Qatar. If Wednesday’s lap times were already impressive, it even got better on Thursday morning, with the all-time lap record of the Sepang International Circuit being, again, smashed by Pecco Bagnaia with an insane 1'56.682. Another five riders were also under the 1’57.273 today, which was the lap time to beat in Malaysia.

Six days on track and a total of 273 laps clocked in, it is safe to write that rookie Pedro Acosta probably knows what he’s talking about now when we mention Malaysia! As each day seemed to get better and better, the #31 continued to impress on the final day of Sepang Test, as he retained his position within the top 10 fastest. A brilliant ride in 1'57.365 this morning meant that he improved by 0.361 seconds from his time of Wednesday, which sat him provisionally fourth fastest after forty minutes. Later on in the morning, the young rookie tried a sprint simulation with ten fast laps in a row, and times were extremely positive. His fastest lap was a 1’58.279, but the most impressive thing was that all his laps were faster than the current fastest race lap of the circuit, currently held by Alex Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP), in 1’58.979. Impressive again is the least we can say. After lunch break, the young shark returned on track at around 3 pm as a few items remained to try before packing everything, and the team called it an end at 4:30 pm. Successful test for the rookie, and the squad will be looking forward to finishing the preparation for 2024 next week in Qatar.

On the other side of the garage, Augusto Fernandez continued to look for solutions to prepare the best 2024 package possible. His lap time slightly improved (1'58.740) but he still remained a bit far from the rest of the grid. As he completed the list of items to try, he was able to work in a more efficient way than the past two days, and he continued to accustom himself with the 2024 bike, a bit different to what he has been used to in his rookie season. The feeling progressively recovered, and he is confident that he will be able to make a good step in Qatar next week, a layout where he showed great pace last season.

That’s a wrap for our adventure in Malaysia. Red Bull GASGAS Tech3 will enjoy a few days of well deserved rest before we head to Doha next week for the last two days of preseason testing, in Qatar on February 19-20.

Position: 9^th

Time: 1'57.365

Laps: 41

"I have enjoyed a lot these three days of Sepang Test, and I am very happy with the work done with the team. When everything becomes more normal, it is easy to enjoy MotoGP of course, but I know it will be more difficult in the first race weekend, but at the moment, we have to be satisfied with our work in Malaysia. The team did a fantastic job, our pace improved day after day, we are three seconds faster than our first day of shakedown, the feeling has been getting better and better, so we are on our way, step by step. Our sprint simulation today was very positive, because we had a good consistency! I will now enjoy a small rest before Qatar next weekend.”

Position: 21^st

Time: 1'58.740

Laps: 60

"These were three hard days for us, it was not the start we were expecting. I have to say, even though our time was not good, we worked better than the past few days. The new bike is quite different to the 2023 one, so we are recovering the feeling progressively, especially with used tyres. It was a hard week for the whole team, so we all need this coming week to recover, and then we’ll head to Qatar, where our pace was good last year, and hopefully we can build a good pace for the race!”

Team Manager

"We have completed a very busy Sepang test! The list of items to try was massive, and we also needed to bring our rookie Pedro Acosta to the MotoGP level, and we can say that we have successfully accomplished our mission. Pedro rode over 1500km between the two tests, and he made huge improvements. On one lap, he was impressive and showed great speed, but we were also extremely happy with his sprint simulation today, as all his laps were in 1’58, which was the target. On the technical side, we did a good job, but we have also discovered a great human being in the person of Pedro. He is a very mature young man, willing to create a good team around him, and we have enjoyed our first two weeks with him. I think that we are ready for the next step. On the other side, we are a bit disappointed with Augusto Fernandez who struggled to find a good pace. Nevertheless, he did not give up, and went through all the items he had to try. It was difficult, but I think that he will leave Sepang with a little smile on his face, having found interesting directions. I really hope that he will be able to gather everything together to come back to his real level in Qatar. Finally, I want to deeply thank all the team who did an unbelievable job. The Sepang Test is really hard, the days are very long, and the boys worked late at night, so well done. A bit of rest, and we will be ready for the Qatar Test next weekend.”

GALLERY

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