Super Saturday did not disappoint at Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli, with an intense schedule of MotoGP™ action awaiting Red Bull GASGAS Tech3’s Pedro Acosta and Augusto Fernandez. Rookie sensation Acosta did a strong qualifying, getting himself on the second row in 5th, while Fernandez was starting from 17th. Later on, Acosta earned a much-deserved P6-finish in the afternoon Tissot Sprint, behind 5 Ducatis, while Fernandez finished 16th.

Qualified directly in Q2 after a great 6th position in Friday’s Practice, rookie Pedro Acosta got his day started in Free Practice 2, with some sprint preparation and a tyre decision to make for the afternoon events. Rounding the session with nineteen laps and the 8th time, the young shark headed next to the final qualifying stage, eager to try making it back-to-back front rows. Joined by Alex Marquez and Brad Binder from Q1, the ten fastest of Friday got the party started for the much-wanted pole position in San Marino. After three laps, Acosta was in provisional P3 with a 1’30.782, behind Francesco Bagnaia and Jorge Martin, as he returned to his pitbox. With 5 minutes remaining on the clock, all riders made the extra effort. Bagnaia headed back to his garage with the provisional pole position with just one minute left, while Acosta further improved to 1’30.656 in a final effort that placed him on the second row, in 5th! Later on in the afternoon, very hot conditions awaited the crème-de-la-crème of MotoGP™! Lights out! From his 5th place, Acosta tried to find some space between Franco Morbidelli and Marco Bezzecchi, but as these two closed their gap, the rookie had no choice but to let them go. He exited T1 in P8 with a Marquez on the inside, but soon he regained the positions lost. While Jorge Martin had gone away together with Francesco Bagnaia, the VR46 duo had both crashed, Morbidelli sat in third half way through on his own, 0.8 seconds ahead of Enea Bastianini. Acosta found himself on his own in 5th, while a battle for 6th between Brad Binder and Marc Marquez gave the rookie some space to breathe a bit more. The front 4 were lapping hard, but the young shark was getting his lap times fast and regular, which allowed him to defend his territory. However, once Marquez got the better of Binder, he caught back on Acosta in no time, dangerously closing on the rookie. 0.4 seconds separated last week’s winner to Acosta’s P5. One lap remained with Marquez eventually overtaking the rookie in sector 3 to grab 5th. That’s a 6th place for Pedro Acosta in the sprint, who will look to do even better on the long distance on Sunday!

Augusto Fernandez showed decent pace on Friday in both Free Practice 1 and Practice, but things were a bit trickier in the time attacks. The Spaniard took 19th and had to go through Q1 this morning. Before that, he rode fourteen laps with a best in 1’32.232 (P18), to get himself ready for what was next. Q1 was busy at the Gran Premio Red Bull di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini, with the likes of Brad Binder, Alex Marquez and Aleix Espargaro also forced to go through the pre-qualifying stage. In his first run, Fernandez set a 1’31.538, a time that provisionally placed him in P7. With no further  improvements made in the next run, Augusto Fernandez qualified in 17th on the grid. Fernandez took a rather decent start to his sprint race grabbing 2 spots in one lap, and the crashes ahead next helped him move up to 13th after four laps. The #37 found himself behind Aleix Espargaro, a spot that he kept until the end. However, a failure to comply with a long lap penalty due to exceeding track limit meant that he took a 3 seconds penalty at the end. That’s P16 for the Spaniard today, who will look to do better on Sunday. The big finale of an amazing San Marino Grand Prix will be tomorrow at 14:00 (GMT+2), for 27 laps!