That’s it for Super Saturdays in 2024, your Saturdays will be boring from now on, until March 1st, 2025. Jokes aside, the final Super Saturday did not disappoint, with plenty of exciting track action going underway at the Motul Solidarity Grand Prix of Barcelona. Tension was high between title contenders Jorge Martin and Francesco Bagnaia, but that did not prevent Pedro Acosta to get on with his things, as he qualified in 6th on the grid ahead of his final sprint and race as a MotoGP™ rookie. Unfortunately, he could not transform it into sprint points, after being involved in an incident with Marc Marquez on the opening lap, which forced him to retire. Augusto Fernandez's last Super Saturday was disappointing, with a 20th place in the sprint, starting from 21st on the grid.

Qualifying
Directly qualified in Q2 after Practice on Friday, Pedro Acosta headed to his final Saturday as a MotoGP™ rookie with one less worry. After completing FP2 with the 5th time after 13 laps, the young Shark headed out on track at 11:15 local time for the final pole position at stake in 2024. Who was going to take that one? The rookie set a first lap in 1’41.235 while Francesco Bagnaia set the pace in 1’39.583. In the next lap, Acosta improved to 1’39.236, a lap that had him in 5th heading to the quick pit box stop. The #31 took off for run number 2 with just 5 minutes left on the clock as the bell for the final time attacks of the season rang. 1’39.166 on lap 6. Behind Jorge Martin, the rookie benefited from the rhythm of the title contender to make a strong improvement to 1’38.949. With Aleix Espargaro and Jorge Martin both heading straight in their final lap, Acosta followed too, and that was it for the young shark, whose lap will see him start his final sprint and race as a rookie from P6. Heading to Saturday eager to try finding some areas to improve on after feeling-less Friday during which we saw him end the day in P21 of Practice, there was Augusto Fernandez, whose struggles unfortunately continued. After a cold Free Practice 2 session that gave the Spaniard the opportunity to fine-tune his package, there was a busy qualifying 1 awaiting the Red Bull GASGAS Tech3 rider, alongside Pierer Mobility fellows Jack Miller and Brad Binder. While Franco Morbidelli had set an early benchmark in 1’39.367, the Spaniard’s best of his first run was a 1’40.552, more than a second away from the best time. Run 2 was then next with just 5 minutes left on the clock. Fernandez exited behind Miller, himself following Fabio Quartararo. The Spaniard could improve soon to 1’40.166, but with no later improvement made during his last two laps, that time remained his best, one that will place him in P21 on the grid ahead of his final sprint and race with Red Bull GASGAS Tech3.

Tissot Sprint
The last time out in Barcelona, Pedro Acosta had qualified in 5th on the grid to finish on the third step of the podium later in the afternoon’s Tissot Sprint. Sadly, he did not even have a tiny chance to try to do at least as good as back in June, when a contact with Marc Marquez in the first turns saw him completely lose his front fairing. Without it, he could not continue, and was forced to retire. Not the final sprint we wanted with Pedro Acosta, but the almost-not-a-rookie anymore will have another chance tomorrow to end our adventure together on a sweet note. From his P21 on the grid, Augusto moved up to 18th after the first lap to sit behind Miguel Oliveira. Takaaki Nakagami was not far though, and the Spaniard was overtaken by the Japanese rider on lap 5, as he continued to struggle with his pace. Oliveira, who had dropped behind since the second lap, had already closed on Fernandez, now 0.021 seconds in the back wheel of the Red Bull GASGAS Tech3 rider. Fernandez tried to hold his ground, but Oliveira moved past on lap 8, leaving Augusto in 20th, until the checkered flag. Disappointing result for the #37, who will look to find some solutions overnight to try finishing the Red Bull GASGAS Tech3 adventure on a good note.

One more to go! Do not miss the ultimate race of the season on Sunday, as the title fight between Jorge Martin and Francesco Bagnaia goes down to the main race, at 14:00 local time (GMT+1)!