- Acosta returns to the scene of his first 2024 MotoGP outing at Sepang and battles to the top nine in the Sprint for his thirteenth haul of Saturday points this season
- Fernandez pushes from 21st on the grid to 13th place after the 10-lap dispute in a hot and sticky climate close to Kuala Lumpur airport
- Moto3™ Quali ends with 16 riders split by 1.5 seconds and Daniel Holgado sealing 11th place on the grid as Jacob Roulstone takes 20th
Sepang International Circuit welcomed MotoGP nine months after the first pre-season test of the campaign and for a physically demanding Grand Prix where the Malaysian heat and the grind of the hard-braking layout meant a draining weekend of action. The country hosted the series for the 32nd time and for what was the second-to-last meeting of the year. Red Bull GASGAS Tech3 carried momentum to Malaysia in the wake of Pedro Acosta’s strong podium finish the previous weekend in Thailand.
On Friday Pedro and Augusto Fernandez got down to business as MotoGP again rattled the official lap-records. They placed 11th and 19th respectively to head into Q1. On Saturday the conditions were dry on track and the grid was formalized with Acosta in 13th and Fernandez starting from 21st for the Sprint that ran exactly half of the Sunday race distance. Pedro was in contention for the top ten – tussling hard with Jack Miller for P8 – and showing decent ability into the braking zones and trying to maximize acceleration potential. Augusto also leapt forwards and looked for gains and to preserve the best tire performance. The duo reached the flag in 9th and 13th and will go again on Sunday. The Grand Prix will get underway at 15.00 local time and 08.00 CET.
Pedro Acosta, 13th in qualifying, 9th in the Sprint: “Not an easy Sprint but it was quite a good day because we see that we have good pace and we’re not doing too bad. We need to focus for tomorrow and make a couple of necessary changes to go a bit faster.”
Augusto Fernandez, 21st in qualifying, 13th in the Sprint: “The Quali was very bad but the race was good! I’m still not feeling great with the new tires for the time attack and I cannot push to improve like the rest. I also had a small crash so I didn’t take the maximum of what was possible. My start was not great in the Sprint but I could work up to my pace quite soon and move forwards. Hopefully I can start better tomorrow and get into that top ten.”
Nicolas Goyon, GASGAS Factory Racing Tech3 Team Manager: “Pedro had quite fast race pace but struggled a bit this morning in Q1 and just missed out on Q2. It was a bit trickier from P13 but Sepang is a track where it is not so difficult to pass and he made a good start. He finally finished 9th and the good thing is that he identified a way to be a bit faster for tomorrow. Augusto also had a difficult start to the day and we did not expect a lot but he had interesting pace and made his way to P13. That was positive and gives us hope for the race tomorrow.”
Results Qualifying MotoGP Malaysian Grand Prix
1. Francesco Bagnaia (ITA) Ducati 1:56.337
2. Jorge Martin (ESP) Ducati +0.216
2. Alex Marquez (ESP) Ducati +0.938
7. Jack Miller (AUS) KTM +1.221
10. Brad Binder (RSA) KTM +1.545
13. Pedro Acosta (ESP) Red Bull GASGAS Tech3 1:57.839 (Q1)
21. Augusto Fernandez (ESP) Red Bull GASGAS Tech3 1:59.006 (Q1)
Results MotoGP Sprint Malaysian Grand Prix
1. Jorge Martin (ESP) Ducati 19:49.230
2. Marc Marquez (ESP) Ducati +0.913
3. Enea Bastianini (ITA) Ducati +2.010
7. Brad Binder (RSA) KTM +11.015
8. Jack Miller (AUS) KTM +11.834
9. Pedro Acosta (ESP) Red Bull GASGAS Tech3 +12.091
13. Augusto Fernandez (ESP) Red Bull GASGAS Tech3 +17.115
Moto3
Moto3 brought the first dose of pace and power to Sepang for the nineteenth Grand Prix of the season and Red Bull GASGAS Tech3 still had plenty to pursue in terms of results. Daniel Holgado needs to accrue enough points to confirm his P2 for the year in the championship standings and Jacob Roulstone was also keen to seal top fifteen status to end his rookie term. The Spaniard was 7th through the time beams on Friday (and after the initial session had been wet) as the Australian looked for his markers to register a decent 8th after Practice. On Saturday the team were busy in Q2 and Q1 as Roulstone improved his feeling but couldn’t quite make a rapid time attack and ranked 20th. Holgado persisted in Q2 to notch the 11th best time and will take to the middle of the fourth row. The Moto3 Grand Prix will involve 15 gripping laps on Sunday morning.
Malaysian Grand Prix MotoGP photographs can be found HERE
Results Qualifying Moto3 Malaysian Grand Prix
1. Adrian Fernandez (ESP), Honda 2:09.542
2. Ivan Ortola (ESP), KTM +0.353
3. David Alonso (COL) CFMOTO +0.473
4. Tatsuki Suzuki (JPN) Husqvarna +0.586
8. Collin Veijer (NED) Husqvarna +0.976
10. Jose Antonio Rueda (ESP), KTM +1.205
11. Daniel Holgado (ESP) Red Bull GASGAS Tech3 +1.272
20. Jacob Roulstone (AUS) Red Bull GASGAS Tech3 2:11.449 (Q1)
21. Joel Esteban (ESP) CFMOTO 2:11.509 (Q1)
25. Xabi Zurutuza (ESP) KTM 2:12.069 (Q1)
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