- Acosta acclimatizes quickly to the Misano layout after one Grand Prix and a recent testing day at the venue to set competitive lap-times and then fight for 5th place in the second Sprint in two weeks
- Fernandez recovers from a tumble on Friday to enter Q1 and qualify 18th
- Daniel Holgado maintains his Moto3™ pace from the previous Grand Prix to register 11th position after Q2 and earn a slot on the fourth row. Jacob Roulstone is walking wounded after a Friday crash and is 19th fastest
Back to Misano for the rearranged fourteenth GP of the season and the first of a triple header of dates for MotoGP that will take the series from the east coast of Italy then to Indonesia and afterwards to Japan. Red Bull GASGAS Tech3 had plenty of data and information from the recent San Marino Grand Prix as well as the last official one-day test at the track. Friday started damp and cool after three days of stormy showers and relentless rain but Practice was run in the dry and the Saturday schedule delivered typical Adriatic conditions.
Acosta made sure of direct Q2 entry on Friday, was P1 in Free Practice 2 and then pushed the GASGAS RC16 to its limit to rank 5th best from the 15-minute chrono. The rookie therefore lined up in the middle of the second row while Fernandez was a bit further back after a spill at Turn3 attempting a flying lap in Q1. He was 18th.
The Sprint rushed around Misano for 13 laps and Acosta managed to overtake Brad Binder for 5th and then keep within a second of the San Marino GP winner Marc Marquez. He was comfortably ahead of Binder and pocketed five points. Fernandez was affected by vibration that hindered his progress. After he reached the line in P20 the team got to work to find the possible cause.
Don’t miss the penultimate 2024 European date for MotoGP on Sunday at 13.00 CEST.
Pedro Acosta, 5th in qualifying, 5th in the Sprint: “In the end a good day. We were much faster in the Sprint than we were here last time and more consistent but we still need to reduce the gap to the winner. We know where to improve for tomorrow.”
Augusto Fernandez, 18th in qualifying, 20th in the Sprint: “Not a good Sprint or a good feeling because of some vibration and this was the first time we’ve had it this weekend. I was feeling good this morning and we’d made a recovery and we’d improved a lot. I think we could have made a 13th or 14th on the grid which would have changed the Sprint. We’ll work in warm-up tomorrow and hopefully have a positive race.”
Nicolas Goyon, GASGAS Factory Racing Tech3 Team Manager: “Satisfying Saturday. Especially for Pedro with P5 in both qualifying and the Sprint. This is a small improvement compared to the race two weeks ago. We used some of the aerodynamic elements we tested here and finally some of them helped us to keep the pace. We achieved our target but Pedro knows there is room to be better and that’s what we’ll aim for in tomorrow’s race. For Augusto practice was quite promising but at the moment to push he crashed and then had a vibration problem in the race that prevented him from making a strong result. We’ll have a look at the issue and try to fix it for tomorrow’s race.”
Results Qualifying MotoGP Emilia Romagna Grand Prix
1. Francesco Bagnaia (ITA) Ducati 1:30.031
2. Jorge Martin (ESP) Ducati +0.214
3. Enea Bastianini (ITA) Ducati +0.533
4. Brad Binder (RSA) Red Bull KTM Factory Racing +0.605
5. Pedro Acosta (ESP) Red Bull GASGAS Tech3 +0.700
18. Augusto Fernandez (ESP) Red Bull GASGAS Tech3 1:31.554 (Q1)
19. Jack Miller (AUS) Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 1:31.695 (Q1)
Results MotoGP Sprint Emilia Romagna Grand Prix
1. Francesco Bagnaia (ITA) Ducati 19:50.237
2. Jorge Martin (ESP) Ducati +0.285
3. Enea Bastianini (ITA) Ducati +1.319
5. Pedro Acosta (ESP) Red Bull GASGAS Tech3 +6.580
6. Brad Binder (RSA) Red Bull KTM Factory Racing +8.143
14. Jack Miller (AUS) Red Bull KTM Factory Racing +19.411
20. Augusto Fernandez (ESP) Red Bull GASGAS Tech3 +25.431
Moto3
Fresh from his latest podium finish and contention for race victory until the final meters at the San Marino Grand Prix, Daniel Holgado was again on the hunt for P1 at Misano. The Spaniard eased into Q2 and was then part of another intense scramble for tows and tenths of a second for the final grid allotment. Dani ended the session with 11th place, just 0.4 from Pole Position and with real estate on the fourth row but with knowledge that he can easily edge into the leading group. Jacob Roulstone had a crash exiting the final corner on Friday and was a little sore and uncomfortable for the Saturday program. The Australian gritted his teeth and used considerable skill to cut the timing beam for the 19th fastest lap and the same position for the 20 lap Grand Prix on Sunday. The race gets underway at the earlier time of 10.00 CEST.
Emilia Romagna Grand Prix MotoGP photographs can be found HERE
Results Qualifying Moto3 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix
1. Taiyo Furusato (JPN) Honda 1:40.394
2. David Alonso (COL) CFMOTO +0.059
3. Angel Piqueras (ESP), Honda +0.066
6. Collin Veijer (NED) Husqvarna +0.220
9. Jose Antonio Rueda (ESP), KTM +0.350
11. Daniel Holgado (ESP) Red Bull GASGAS Tech3 +0.397
17. Tatsuki Suzuki (JPN) Husqvarna +1.500
19. Jacob Roulstone (AUS) Red Bull GASGAS Tech3 1:41.658 (Q1)
22. Joel Esteban (ESP) CFMOTO +1:41.903 (Q1)
23. Xabi Zurutuza (ESP) KTM 1:41.986 (Q1)
PRESS CONTACT
EVANGELIA SISSIS