RED BULL GASGAS TECH3 HEADS HOME WITH POINTS SCORED FOR BOTH ACOSTA AND FERNANDEZ IN SEPANG

The Sepang International Circuit hosted another stunner in MotoGP™ on Sunday at the Grand Prix of Malaysia, with a titanic dual between title contenders Francesco Bagnaia and Jorge Martin in the early laps, before the Italian went on to grab the win of the survival to take the championship fight down to the final round. Pedro Acosta treated us with a sensational top 5 in the heat of Malaysia, while Augusto Fernandez scored his first top 10 of the season in the main race, making it his best Sunday result of 2024. Points for both riders gives Red Bull GASGAS Tech3 the perfect ending to a long overseas tour, before heading home.

Ready for the final one overseas, Pedro Acosta lined up again in P13 on a boiling-hot grid, as lights went out at 15:00 local time for 20 laps of craziness. Acosta moved from right to left, same scheme as yesterday, to position himself on the inside of T1, which he exited at the doors of the top 10. That was just before a crazy incident, involving three riders in T2, forced the race direction to wave the red flag, requesting all riders to immediately return to their pit boxes. The race was to be restarted with original grid positions for 19 laps, and lights were out again at 15:25 after a quick-start procedure. Approaching T1 with the same strategy, Acosta found the exit of the first corner in P10, to then gain one more in 9th in the next corners, and then P8. Eventually, he sat in P9 after the opening lap behind Alex Rins. In the following lap, the Shark was able to fight his way ahead of Rins to position himself 0.176 seconds behind Fabio Quartararo after two laps complete. On-fire rookie then made a move on the Frenchman in sector 4 of the following lap to 7th, with next up Alex Marquez, 0.4 seconds away. Progressively, the rookie was gaining back ground on the Gresini rider. Franco Morbidelli’s crash on lap 6 meant that he was in 6th, and shortly after, he moved up to 5th with Marc Marquez’ crash in T15. From the 7th lap, things settled pretty much for Pedro Acosta, who was trying to close the gap on Marquez. He quickly found himself close, pressuring the Spaniard, but he could not find a way to move past him. Acosta appeared to release a bit the pressure to try securing that top 5, all the way until the final checkered flag. That’s a hard-thought top 5 finish for the rookie, who heads to the final round 5th in the championship!

Augusto Fernandez showed great pace in Saturday’s sprint, and was eager to give a go to the Sepang International Circuit on the long distance. From P21 on the grid, the Spaniard took a great start at the restart procedure as he moved up to P14 behind Raul Fernandez. He remained close to the #25 for a few laps, to eventually overtake him on lap 5, to then try going after Johann Zarco. A few crashes ahead meant that he moved up to 11th after seven laps complete. Fernandez was progressively closing on Zarco, who was 0.6 seconds ahead. The gap continued to close, and he was now 0.2 seconds from Bezzecchi who had been overtaken by the Frenchman. Feeling confident on the bike with his pace, he made a move in T2 on Zarco to make a top 10 entrance with 7 laps to go. He tried to go after Bezzecchi who had also made his way ahead, but he could not catch him up. He settled with a great top 10, his best Sunday result from 2024, one that he will be taking energy from heading to the season finale.

Position: 5^th

Championship: 5^th

Points: 209

"It was very important for us to finish the race, take information and learn. It is difficult for me to say that because I want to win, but today we understood that 5th was the best we could do, it was a good result to take, so we focused on that. The Ducatis were really strong ahead, and I think that I lost some time trying to overtake Maverick Vinales, Fabio Quartataro and Alex Rins. We tried to go after Alex Marquez, but at some point I almost lost the front, so I knew I had to calm things down. Anyway, we managed to go with a good pace, we made a good step, with many things understood, so happy with this result, in very difficult conditions."

Position: 10^th

Championship: 20^th

Points: 27

"I am happy with this top 10, especially after a good race, with a decent pace. We were starting far, so it was important to be patient, especially knowing from the weekend that we had a good pace, but we had to think about managing the tyres first. Step by step, we were going forward, feeling good on the bike, overtaking riders ahead. I could push until the end, to try catching Marco Bezzecchi. I could not pass him, but I think that it was our best race of the season in terms of feeling. It is a bit late, but better than never. Looking forward to the final round to try finishing the season in a good way."

Team Manager

"We are happy with the final result of this Grand Prix of Malaysia, after a bad qualifying and an average sprint, but somehow we managed to turn things around on Sunday. I would like to congratulate both Pedro Acosta and Augusto Fernandez for their efforts. After the sprint, we identified issues on Acosta’s side and we found some room for improvement with a different direction in the warm up, which was confirmed by Pedro for the race. Achieving another top 5 from P13 is a great achievement, so congratulations to Pedro for finishing both sprint and race in the points this weekend. He moves up to 5th in the championship heading to the last round, which is great. The season has been difficult for Augusto, but we saw some sparkles in his sprint, so we had hopes for the long distance. He finished in the top 10, his best result of the year, which will give him some energy and power to close the season in the best way possible. Special thanks to the mechanics who have done a tremendous job this weekend, especially with Augusto’s two crashes yesterday morning. Time to pack, go home, get a week of rest, before the final round of the season!"

GALLERY

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