THE DREAM CONTINUES: ACOSTA TAKES MAIDEN TISSOT SPRINT PODIUM IN JEREZ, FERNANDEZ IN THE POINTS TOO!

MotoGP™ never disappoints! Another hectic day of racing came to an end in Jerez de la Frontera at the Gran Premio de España. Damp conditions awaited the premier class this morning in the final free practice session ahead of the qualifying shootout, before the sun came back for the Tissot Sprint. Qualified directly in Q2, Red Bull GASGAS Tech3’s Pedro Acosta qualified in tenth on the grid, position from which he went on to take his first Tissot Sprint podium, finishing 2nd of a crazy shootout that saw many riders go down. Qualified in eighteenth, Augusto Fernandez took advantage of today’s chaos to secure his first sprint points of 2024, finishing in 7th.

Tricky track conditions constantly changing awaited Pedro Acosta in his fourth Q2 shootout of the season, and anything could literally happen. If it was eventually Marc Marquez who took the pole position in Jerez, the Red Bull GASGAS Tech3 rookie was on his way to a provisional pole in the final minutes, but a late crash in the final corner saw his hopes of a first MotoGP™ pole position fade away. He settled with a P10 on the grid, but a shark is always hungry for more. At 15:00, the sun was out, having dried the track, but the track conditions were going to be tough to evaluate following the morning’s sessions in the wet. Coming from tenth, the first lap was challenging, with much more risks of contacts with other riders, but the rookie negotiated his start pretty well and gained two positions in one lap. A few laps later, Francesco Bagnaia got squeezed a little bit too hard by Brad Binder, and crashed, leaving Pedro in P6 after three laps. The track was tricky, and Acosta opted for the safer option to stay behind Enea Bastianini, with the patches of water being difficult to manage and making him lose time in some corners. Halfway through the sprint, Alex Marquez and Bastianini crashed ahead of the #31, and shortly after it was race leader and pole man Marc Marquez’ turn. In no time, the rookie found himself powered to P2 behind sprint master Jorge Martin. The next lap, his chaser Maverick Vinales fell too. It was then all about survival and trying to make no mistake. Mission accomplished for the rookie sensation who took his first sprint podium with a silver medal on Saturday, an excellent result getting him up to the second place in the riders championship, twenty-nine points from the leader, Jorge Martin.

There were hopes that this morning’s tricky conditions could play in Augusto Fernandez’ favor. However, there were other strong candidates reputed to be good in the wet such as Brad Binder, Jack Miller and Johann Zarco who also wanted that Q2 ticket. Augusto’s lap in 1’49.229 was too tight for him to make the cut, and that placed him eighteenth on the grid ahead of the Tissot Sprint. When lights went out, Augusto missed out a bit on his start and the first lap was far from ideal, as we saw him dropping to P20. While the first race incident occurred, Augusto managed to settle into his race pace, to find himself in P17 behind Luca Marini after three laps, with Alex Rins in his wheels. Later on, the crashes ahead saw him jump to P12 after nine laps, and crash after crash, he moved up until he passed the checkered flag in P8. A late penalty of Raul Fernandez meant that Augusto moved up to P7 in the end. Just like his teammate, today’s sprint was about staying on the bike despite the watered parts of the track and the intense wind, and the Spaniard successfully achieved the target to score three sprint points, an encouraging result for the Red Bull GASGAS Tech3 who has not had the easiest of the season starts so far.

Red Bull GASGAS Tech3’s Pedro Acosta and Augusto Fernandez will be back tomorrow for the main race, scheduled at 14:00 local time!

Position: 2nd

Championship: 2nd

Points: 63

"We had very mixed conditions, and it is quite tough to head to a race at full gas in these conditions, not really knowing where the wet patches would be. In the end, we saw that T5, T8 and T9 were the most watered, and I was losing a bit of time in these corners. That meant I was not close enough to try overtaking the other riders, so we stayed focused, trying to make no mistake. Anyway, today was the first time in two years that I felt fast and competitive directly in the wet, and for this I am really happy. I also got a good start, so we are improving, day by day. Looking forward to tomorrow!"

Position: 7th

Championship: 15th

Points: 10

"It was a crazy sprint, wow! When I saw that many riders were falling, I just told myself that I had to stay on the bike to be honest, because the track was very tricky. There were some wet patches on the line, in T5 especially, and it was easy to make a mistake and go wide. Anyway, I tried to survive. Of course we take P7 and sprint points, but we also have to be realistic and my pace is not good enough for tomorrow. I am also struggling with grip, especially on the rear, so we need to try improving that for tomorrow. Physically, I felt better than yesterday, so let’s work hard tonight and prepare for the long distance.”

Team Manager

"Today is another day to remember for the Red Bull GASGAS Tech3 team, with another target achieved as our rookie Pedro Acosta took his first sprint podium after an eventful race! This morning, we had a small bitter taste in our mouth after he missed on a front row qualifying following his late crash in tricky conditions, because we knew that starting from the fourth row in Jerez was not going to be an easy one. In the sprint, the track conditions were really tricky for all riders, with some wet patches a bit everywhere, so it became a matter of surviving and trying to avoid these patches, while keeping the pace. Pedro just did that perfectly to finish second, which is once again an incredible achievement, and that places him second in the championship! On his side, Augusto Fernandez had a small issue at the start, but he did not give up, tried to keep his position and his pace through the chaos, and he managed to finish the race with three points, in P7. It is a positive result, even the pace is not where he wants, but it is good to take. Positive weekend so far, let’s continue!”

GALLERY

< BACK TO NEWS GP 2024