It was an eventful MotoGP™ race that took place on Sunday at the Gran Premio Red Bull di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini as we saw the white flag being waved early into the race, allowing riders to swap bikes as a small rain joined the party. Pedro Acosta completed the San Marino Grand Prix in P17, while Augusto Fernandez unfortunately crashed after six laps.

There were big hopes for rookie Pedro Acosta in Sunday’s main show after the Red Bull GASGAS Tech3 rider showed competitiveness all weekend. After his P6 in the Tissot Sprint, we were eager to find out what the young shark had in mind for the long distance. Humidity and clouds had been threatening the paddock all day, but it was just about 30 minutes before the race started that some rain drops started to cover the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli. Wet or dry race? Tricky as these drops were quite light. As the lights went out at 14:00 local time, Pedro Acosta took a rocket start from his 5th position on the grid, and exited T1 in 4th close behind Prima Pramac duo Jorge Martin-Franco Morbidelli, with Brad Binder just behind, while home hero Francesco Bagnaia took the lead immediately. The rain drops continued to fall, and the white flag allowing the bikes swap was waived by race direction. Pedro Acosta got into a battle for 3rd against Morbidelli. He tried a first move in lap 2, but hurt the #21 at the rear, losing his front wing at the same time. The next lap, the rookie tried again in T2, and he finally managed to move past the Italian, but Morbidelli was quick to respond as he defended his territory. Acosta was on fire, lapping a 1'31.827 on lap 3 (6th fastest lap of the race), but unfortunately he crashed the next lap in T14. The shark managed to get up and rejoin the action, but he found himself at the back, nineteen seconds behind Stefan Bradl. On lap 7, Acosta made the bet to swipe bikes for wet tyres, but the rain was too light, and three laps later, he chose to return back to the pitbox to change back to slicks. As he was one of the six riders to have changed their bikes, he found himself in P18 behind Aleix Espargaro, one lap behind. He managed to overtake the Aprilia rider who appeared to struggle, and that was everything he could do for the day. That’s P17 the rookie, with many learnings to take from this race!

From his P17 on the grid, Augusto Fernandez took a decent start and moved up to P15 in one lap behind Fabio Di Giannantonio. Feeling good, he then overtook wildcard Pol Espargaro, to settle between the two brothers. His teammate’s crash meant that he then gained one more position, to P13, but the gap to Aleix Espargaro was 9 seconds. The Spaniard appeared to feel really well on his bike, but unfortunately he crashed in the final corner of his seventh lap. It’s a great shame for the Spaniard, who had gotten himself into a good position after his first laps, and a top 10 could have been possible.

A disappointing end to our San Marino campaign, but we have a busy test awaiting us on Monday at Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli, so let’s continue to work hard, and it will pay off.