Pedro Acosta qualified 6th for the final Sprint of the season at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. The rookie then had the front of his bike smashed away by another rider into the third corner and was forced to retire. Augusto Fernandez was 20th. Daniel Holgado qualified 5th in Moto3™ with full intent to chase P2 in the championship.
The Solidarity Grand Prix of Barcelona allowed MotoGP to draw curtains on the 2024 season and in tribute to the cancelled Valencian round which should have taken place on the same weekend almost 400km south. The November scheduling meant teams and riders had to be especially sensitive to tire wear and consumption on the notoriously low grip circuit surface and the Red Bull GASGAS Tech3 crew still had plenty to race for in Catalunya: Pedro Acosta is 5th in the championship standings and needed a healthy bounty of points to make sure of the top-five ranking for the year. Augusto Fernandez was eager to wrap his two-term tenure with the squad in a strong way and was also motivated.
On Friday Acosta was helping set the pace in FP1. Practice in sunnier and warmer afternoon climes gave the 20-year-old a berth in Q2. Fernandez strived for usable traction and entered Q1. Through Quali on Saturday and under blue skies Pedro was proactive to be just 0.3 from Pole Position and grabbed 6th on the grid: the last spot on the second row. Augusto was 21st.
The Sprint was a 12-lap all-out dispute for the last Saturday points of the year. Acosta started well and was pushing for track space in with the leaders until he had his line closed by another rider into the third corner. Contact ripped away the front fairing and he had to enter the pitlane. Fernandez made ground initially but still could not find the grip he needed and reached the flag 20th.
The team will reset and go again for the final time this season with the MotoGP race lasting for 28 fascinating laps on Sunday afternoon.
Pedro Acosta, 6th in qualifying, DNF in the Sprint: “Not much to say but it was difficult to understand the situation because I was in front! Racing is like this. Maybe it was too early in the race to make these types of movements because I was already in the corner. My pace was quite good today and we have to be happy for that but tomorrow must be better for us.”
Augusto Fernandez, 21st in qualifying, 20th in the Sprint: “It’s been a hard weekend. I’m missing feeling and feedback on the track and we’re struggling to understand why. Tomorrow we’ll make a change to try and find an improvement and gain something. We want to enjoy the last race of the season.”
Nicolas Goyon, GASGAS Factory Racing Tech3 Team Manager: “A race incident ended our Sprint before one lap today. Frustrating because Pedro did a good job to qualify on the second row and we were looking forward to seeing his potential in the race. We are really looking forward to tomorrow because we still have 5th in the standings to fight for. We’ll give everything and we’re quite confident. It was a bit trickier for Augusto. Everyone is suffering for grip but it was a difficult day for him. We still have one more night to fix the situation and finish the season in the best way possible.”
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