Good performance by Red Bull KTM Ajo on opening day of San Marino GP

17/09/2021

Pedro Acosta and Jaume Masia earn provisional spots in Qualifying 2 after a solid FP1 and FP2 on Friday at Misano.

 

The Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli hosted the opening day of the San Marino Grand Prix on Friday, with the first two Free Practice sessions of the weekend. The Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto3 duo of Pedro Acosta and Jaume Masia were second and 11th on the combined FP1 and FP2 timesheets, respectively, earning provisional places in Q2 on Saturday.

The first session of the day took place in dry conditions and with the sun shining at the San Marino track. Masia dedicated his 16 laps to finding a good base setup for his bike, and on his penultimate attempt the Spaniard stopped the clock at 1:43.103 to place eighth. In 14th position, Acosta took FP1 calmly, running 14 laps and putting in a time of 1:43.272.

Despite the rain that had fallen hours before, the track dried up for Moto3 FP2. The two Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto3 talents both took a step forward, improving their morning times. Acosta finished second after achieving a personal best of 1:42.346, just 0.013 off the top spot. The rookie completed 16 laps in the session, the same as his teammate. Masia was 10th with a 1:42.882.

Tomorrow morning the riders will use FP3 to finish setting up their KTMs for qualifying and the race. Moto3 Q1 will start at 12:35 PM local time, followed by Q2 at 1 PM.

Results (Combined practice times FP1-FP2)
1. Dennis Foggia (Honda) 1:42.009
2. Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 1:42.346 +0.337
3. Romano Fenati (Husqvarna) 1:42.379 +0.370
4. Niccolo Antonelli (KTM) 1:42.452 +0.443
5. Andrea Migno (Honda) 1:42.495 +0.486
11. Jaume Masia (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 1:42.882 +0.873

 

5 JAUME MASIA

“I am happy with how we have started this Grand Prix. We took solid steps forward throughout the two sessions today, and I am satisfied with the work that we did. Despite the fact that in the final part of the day I didn’t feel very comfortable with the new tyre, we showed that we have a good pace, and that is my takeaway. Tomorrow we will continue pushing to the maximum.”

37 PEDRO ACOSTA

“In general, I felt good. We did a great job in both FP1 and FP2. We worked on our pace, and we rode quite fast alone. In the morning we had a small issue that prevented us from being up at the front. In the afternoon, we took a step forward and we end Friday with a positive mindset. It will be necessary to see what the conditions are like tomorrow, since when it rained today it did so heavily.”

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