Acosta and Fernandez qualify directly for Q2 and will start tomorrow’s race at COTA from the fourth and sixth rows of the grid, respectively.

The starting grid for the Americas Grand Prix Moto2 race was established on Saturday, with the Red Bull KTM Ajo riders going straight through to Q2. In qualifying itself, the duo experienced contrasting fortunes: Pedro Acosta was 10th and tomorrow will start the fourth round of the 2022 season from the fourth row of the grid. On the sixth row will be his teammate, Augusto Fernandez, who, after suffering a crash in Q2, qualified in 18th position.

Once again, the intermediate class began the activity for the day, with the last Free Practice. Fernandez showed that he is one of the weekend’s speediest riders, lowering his times from Friday. The Spaniard finished FP3 in second position with a personal best of 2:09.021, just 0.017 thousandths from the top spot. He put in 13 laps of the American track in the session, the same as his teammate. Acosta was seventh after stopping the clock in 2:09.734, despite crashing with a minute to go at Turn 2.

The two Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto2 riders went straight into Q2 thanks to their good work in Free Practices. Acosta set a 2:09.925 time for 10th position, making it onto the fourth row of the grid for the Americas GP. Fernandez set a strong pace before what proved to be his final push, but a crash in the seventh minute of the session, at Turn 17, ended his progress. He will start from Row 6, in 18th place.

Due to the time change for this round, the intermediate class will be the first race of the day on Sunday, at 11:20 AM local time. The distance is set for 18 laps.

Results (Qualifying session)
1. Cameron Beaubier (Kalex) 2:08.751
2. Celestino Vietti (Kalex) 2:09.091 +0.340
3. Aron Canet (Kalex) 2:09.283 +0.532
4. Tony Arbolino (Kalex) 2:09.329 +0.578
5. Albert Arenas (Kalex) 2:09.358 +0.607
10. Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 2:09.925 +1.174
18. Augusto Fernandez (Red Bull KTM Ajo) NC

#37 AUGUSTO FERNANDEZ

“It was a shame about what happened to us in qualifying, since we couldn’t carry over the good feeling we had in FP3 – a practice in which we had taken a step forward. I pushed hard from the start and unfortunately, I couldn’t save the crash. Also, the conditions in that session were somewhat different; it was very windy, especially in the area where I suffered the crash. It caught me by surprise and I couldn’t do anything about it. Tomorrow we will begin quite far back, but we are confident that we will be able to fight back and, if we manage to get to the front, we know that we have a good enough pace to push. It will be a long race, so we have to be patient and give one hundred percent.”

#51 PEDRO ACOSTA

“Today we were competitive, which is, without a doubt, something very positive. In qualifying we were missing something in terms of setup, but this afternoon and tomorrow morning we will work with the team to take a step forward. In general, we are happy with how the day went. The feeling for tomorrow is good, so we will try to close this round with a great performance in the race.”