MotoGP returned to the fast, flat confines of the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix and more warm, sunny weather graced the fourteenth fixture of the 2024 campaign. Red Bull GASGAS Tech3’s Pedro Acosta was again one of the pacesetters and battled to 5th position in the Sprint after qualifying in the same position. Augusto Fernandez finished 20th after the 13-lap chase on Saturday afternoon.
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.”
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