As we are getting closer and closer to the start of an exciting 2024 MotoGP™ season, Red Bull GASGAS Tech3 traveled to Doha in Qatar for the final two days of preseason testing. There was not much time to recover from an intense Sepang test, but both Pedro Acosta and Augusto Fernandez were eager to continue the work as they both looked to finalize their bike’s settings before the first round. Riders were on track from 14:00 local time to 21:00 in order to familiarize themselves with the night and the cooler conditions which will await them in a bit more than two weeks.

After he made the highlights in Sepang as he was fastest of the Sepang Shakedown and remained in the top 10 all three days of the Sepang Test, rookie Pedro Acosta continued to tease us for what could be an exciting season. Track conditions were a bit tricky at the start of the afternoon, with quite a lot of wind, and Acosta was amongst the first riders to go out on Monday to get a taste of the track. Conditions were not ideal and he rode just six laps in the first hour, but eventually as the wind came down, more riders joined the action. The young shark did not mess around today as he improved hour after hour, until he reached his fastest lap of the day on lap 50 with a 1’52.938. To place things in their context, that is 1.176 seconds away from the all time lap record of Losail, held by Luca Marini since the 2023 Qatar GP. He rode all the way until the end of play, got a few more practice starts in the bag, as he closed day 1 in P15 (+0.898), after seventy-three laps, and ended the day as the rider with the most laps clocked in today!

On the other side of the box, there was Augusto Fernandez looking for better sensations with his 2024 RC16 after a rather disappointing Sepang test last week in Malaysia. Just like his teammate, he was one of the first to go out, but not for long. When conditions allowed the real work to start, the day started pretty well as he began recovering the lost feeling with his bike. He spent this first day focusing on getting the right setting, the right sensations, and worked mainly on his race pace. His fastest lap was a 1’53.755 on lap 50/54, but unfortunately a late crash in turn 1 called it an end for the number 37, and left him with no chance to go for the time attacks today. He sits in P20 at the end of the day, but there are a lot of positives to feed from for the final day tomorrow, as both Red Bull GASGAS Tech3 riders will be back on track at 2pm local time on Tuesday.