Jaume Masia and Pedro Acosta complete the first two Free Practice sessions of the weekend and earn provisional spots in Q2.

After more than five weeks off in the summer break, Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto3 returned to action this Friday at the Red Bull Ring in Austria, on the opening day of the Styrian Grand Prix. Jaume Masia and Pedro Acosta enjoyed two positive Free Practice sessions, finishing eighth and eleventh, respectively, on the combined FP1 and FP2 timesheets. With these results the duo earned provisional places in Q2 tomorrow.

The day started well for the duo, as both riders were competitive in FP1. Acosta took things steadily, gaining experience of the track aboard his KTM. In the final part of the session, the rookie took a step forward and on his final lap of 17, stopped the clock at 1:37.193. He was second, just 0.05 off the top spot. A further two tenths behind, Masia was eighth with a 1:37.377 from 16 laps.

In a cloudy afternoon session, fine rain fell towards the end. Masia was able to lower his times from the morning and set his personal best lap of the day: a 1:37.135 to finish FP2 in eighth. The Spaniard put in another 18 laps, whilst Acosta rode 17, the best of which was a 1:37.220 for eleventh.

Tomorrow morning the Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto3 pair will have the last Free Practice session in which to finalise their setups. Q1 will start at 12:35 PM local time, followed by Q2 at 1 PM.

Results (Combined practice times FP1-FP2)
1. Darryn Binder (Honda) 1:36.809
2. John McPhee (Honda) 1:36.849 +0.040
3. Sergio Garcia (GasGas) 1:36.866 +0.057
4. Romano Fenati (Husqvarna) 1:36.934 +0.125
5. Dennis Foggia (Honda) 1:36.940 +0.131
8. Jaume Masia (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 1:37.135 +0.326
11. Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 1:37.193 +0.384

5 JAUME MASIA

“After more than a month off, I’m happy with the work we did on our first day back racing. I feel pretty good on the bike. It was a pity that we were unable to make the most of the last session due to the rain, as I was concerned about the condition of the track and did not want to take risks. Tomorrow we will continue pushing to take more steps forward. I’m looking forward to qualifying and we’ll see what we’re capable of in it.”

37 PEDRO ACOSTA

“It was a positive start to the Grand Prix, as we worked well from the first Free Practices onwards. I’m happy with how today’s sessions went, and I concentrated on riding alone. Despite it only being Friday, we showed that we have a good pace. In the afternoon it started to rain at the end of the practice, but we still managed to get a provisional place in Q2 for tomorrow. Overall, it was a positive day.”