The new Moto3 World Champion claims his maiden pole position, whilst teammate Masia will start from the 8th row.

Pedro Acosta and Red Bull KTM Ajo took the last pole position of the 2021 season – the first for the Spanish rider in the World Championship. He went directly into Q2 thanks to his great work in Free Practice and, in the afternoon, confirmed his good feeling by heading the field. Jaume Masia had a tough Saturday and, after finishing ninth in Q1, will start the Valencia GP race tomorrow from 23rd.

Morning sunshine created optimal conditions for FP3. Acosta took advantage and took a big step forward from Friday, improving his lap times significantly. The newly crowned Moto3 World Champion finished the session in second position, with a 1:39.355 time, just 0.099s off the top spot. He completed 15 laps, the same as his teammate. Masia had a difficult practice, in which he was 24th after stopping the clock at 1:41.033.

In the afternoon, the two riders had mixed fortunes: Acosta went straight into Q2, after being second fastest on the combined timesheets. In the qualifying session, he put in a final lap of 1:38.668 to claim his first pole position in the class. Meanwhile, Masia had to contest Q1, a session in which he finished in 9th position. He will be on the eight row of the grid for the race itself, in 23rd.

The 23-lap Valencia Grand Prix race will end the 2021 season tomorrow at 11 AM local time.

Results (Qualifying session)
1. Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 1:38.668
2. Tatsuki Suzuki (Honda) 1:38.978 +0.310
3. Izan Guevara (GASGAS) 1:39.053 +0.385
4. Andrea Migno (Honda) 1:39.060 +0.392
5. Filip Salac (KTM) 1:39.092 +0.424
23. Jaume Masia (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 1:39.980 (Q1 time)

5 JAUME MASIA

“It was a tough day for us, because we encountered traffic on track and we were unable to set a good lap. However, we have improved compared to this morning. I am happy and looking forward to fighting at my home GP, with the chance to fight back in the race. The objective will be to get a podium and make the fans enjoy themselves.”

37 PEDRO ACOSTA

“I was missing a pole position, and we got it today. I didn’t care too much about whether I got one or not, although it was one of the goals for this weekend and I’m happy to have achieved it. There are riders who will be strong tomorrow, but we are as well. We found a good pace. It will be a very exciting race.”