Super Saturday treated us well once again with an exciting day of MotoGP™ action at the Grand Prix of Malaysia. After missing out again on Q2 by a very small margin this morning, Pedro Acosta qualified in 13th on the grid, before he went on to score a sprint point in the afternoon with a 9th place. From P21 on the grid, Augusto Fernandez finished with a well-earned 13th place in the afternoon’s Tissot Sprint, a result that will give him good confidence heading to Sunday’s main show.

Qualifying

After missing out on a direct Q2 by just 0.076 seconds on Friday, Pedro Acosta headed to Q1 eager to make it amongst the top 2 after showing great speed all sessions so far, including the morning’s Free Practice 2 where we saw the rookie finish with the 4th best time. In Q1, Acosta set an early lap in 1’58.142 that had him in third after the first lap, before he went on to improve to a 1’58.012 to move up to P2 behind Marco Bezzecchi, who had already taken the benchmark in the 57s. Five minutes remained on the clock as all riders pitted in after a quick strategy break. Times were close, with Brad Binder in third just 0.051 seconds short from the Q2 spots. Acosta improved to a 1’57.907, but 2025 teammate Binder set a new benchmark in 1’57.800 to take the provisional lead, meaning that Acosta was now in 3rd, in need of a perfect last flying lap. The rookie did a great job in improving to 1'57.839 to move back up to 2nd, but he could not do anything when Johann Zarco pulled a classy last lap in 1’57.635 to take the top of the session in the final seconds. That meant Acosta finished in 3rd, and missed out on Q2, this time by an even-smaller margin than Friday, 0.039 seconds! The rookie was set to start the Grand Prix of Malaysian from P13 on the grid. Augusto Fernandez was able to return on track after his late crash from Free Practice 2 to try to get a chance for a decent grid position. His first run’s best was a 1’59.006 that had him in P11. For run 2, he placed himself in the back wheel of Brad Binder, but he made another mistake and crashed in T9. That was the end of qualifying for him, and it was going to be a P21 start later for the #37.

Tissot Sprint

Just before 15:00 LT, Pedro Acosta lined up in 13th on the grid ahead of the Tissot Sprint. Small drops of rain started to fall during the grid, but nothing major came out of it and it turned into a fully dry sprint. Lights out for ten laps! From his P13, Pedro Acosta moved from left to right to try to position himself on the inside of turn 1, which he did as three positions were gained within a few corners. The young Shark completed the first lap in 10th behind Jack Miller, while a front three had clearly taken the lead, with Jorge Martin having taken a rocket start, followed by polesitter Francesco Bagnaia and Marc Marquez. Close in Miller’s back wheel with Alex Rins not far though, the Red Bull GASGAS Tech3 rider moved past the Australian on lap 3 to P8, but Miller was quick to answer to gain back his 8th place. Acosta settled in 9th, led by KTM Factory’s duo Brad Binder in 7th and Jack Miller in 8th. As just a few laps remained, the young shark increased his game to try and battle it out for 8th in what looked like a replica of Buriram’s main race. It was a great battle, but Miller defended his ground extremely well, and Acosta had to settle with 9th to earn a well-deserved Sprint point. From P21 on the grid, Augusto Fernandez got a great start and gained three positions in one lap to exit lap 1 in 18th behind Raul Fernandez. Augusto remained close to Raul for a few laps trying to battle it out for 17th, and he was finally able to move past the Trackhouse rider on lap 3. Bagnaia having crashed meant that he was 16th after three laps. The next lap he overtook Luca Marini to move to P15, and a few laps later he could also pass Maverick Vinales who had lost positions from his 12th place on the grid. In the end, the Spaniard saw the checkered flag in P13, and will head to Sunday’s main race eager to continue on that path. The MotoGP™ class will be back on Sunday for the main showdown, at 15:00 local time (GMT+8), for 20 laps!