MotoGP™ was already back in action on Friday at the Gran Premio Red Bull di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini, with recent podium finisher Pedro Acosta keeping the Aragón momentum going with a very good start to his San Marino GP campaign. The rookie finished 6th of Practice and qualified directly to Q2, while teammate Augusto Fernandez settled for 19th, and will have to go through the pre-qualifying stage on Saturday morning.

Red Bull GASGAS Tech3’s Pedro Acosta looked to continue his good form on Friday, just a few days after a successful Aragón campaign where we saw the rookie fighting back at the top. The young Shark looked to apply the same working methods in San Marino as last week, and it appeared to continue doing wonders for the #31. Friday’s Free Practice 1 was about finding his marks on the RC16, but once that was done, the rookie ended the session in the top 10 with a 1’32.354 after twenty-one laps. In the afternoon’s key Practice, the rookie continued to impress with his lap times and his fast adaptation, as we saw him take the provisional lead over Marc Marquez after thirteen laps, with a new benchmark set in 1’31.301. With ten minutes left on the clock, MotoGP™ craziness started, with red sectors all over the screens. The Shark improved to 1’31.203, but shortly after that, Marc Marquez and Enea Bastianini responded to take 1st and 2nd. Shortly after that, Acosta crashed in T8 with just 8 minutes left on the clock, but he was able to get back on his bike and bring it back quickly to his team while they were preparing a new bike as fast as they could. 4 minutes left, P4. The rookie returned on track, with two laps left to secure his Q2 ticket. Others improved but not the Shark. Still, his time was good enough to secure 6th, and despite a crash, Acosta is bound for Q2! That's objective 1 ticked for the rookie, a busy day awaits him tomorrow, with qualifying and the Tissot Sprint.

Augusto Fernandez also reunited with his GASGAS RC16, eager to continue progressing after a weekend in Aragón that saw him finish in P12. As he rode twenty-laps in the morning session, the Spaniard was close to his Pierer Mobility fellows, finishing 12th of FP1 with a 1’32.453, 0.099 seconds behind his teammate. As the action returned in the afternoon, the Spaniard showed competitiveness, as we saw him close on the top 10. With just 15 minutes left on the clock, the #37 was fifteenth (1’32.270), not far from the Q2 tickets, but the biggest task was still coming. Fernandez improved to 1’31.961 on lap 21, but he had to stop his efforts as Aleix Espargaro went down just ahead of him. He closed the session in P19, and he will have to try making his way through the difficult Q1 session on Saturday morning, as he hopes to qualify well. The action will be back on Saturday morning, with Free Practice 2 at 10:10 local time (GMT+2).