Strong start for Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto2 at Le Mans

12/05/2023

Pedro Acosta sets the second best time on Friday, while Albert Arenas is ninth.

The French Grand Prix takes place this weekend, and the Red Bull KTM Ajo riders completed the first day of practice with a good feeling. Pedro Acosta was once again one of the pacesetters, with the second best time. Albert Arenas was comfortable and finished Friday in ninth position.

Practice 1 began with somewhat low temperatures, forcing the riders to avoid taking too many risks from the start of the session. Acosta was consistent from start to finish, and remained amongst the frontrunners when, with 15 minutes to go, the other riders increased their pace. He placed third with a time of 1:36.757, set on his 14th attempt of 18 and just +0.099s off the top. Arenas focused on finding a good feeling, working with the race itself in mind. He progressively improved his times, finishing in eleventh position with a 1:37.159, set on his penultimate lap.

In the second session of the day, Acosta and Arenas were both able to improve their times as the conditions at Le Mans became more favourable for riding. Acosta made a pit stop and entered the final stretch of the session determined to stay in the leading positions. He eventually finished second with a time of 1:36.183, just +0.005s off the best time. Arenas’ focus was on finding a solid foundation pace to work from, and he took a step forward in his riding style that took him inside the Top 10 overall, in ninth place thanks to his 1:36.844.

Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto2 will be back to work this Saturday in qualifying for the French Grand Prix, starting at 1:45 PM local time.

Results (Combined practice times P1 – P2)
1. Sam Lowes (Kalex) 1:36.178
2. Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 1:36.183 +0.005
3. Alonso Lopez (Boscoscuro) 1:36.271 +0.093
4. Filip Salac (Kalex) 1:36.477 +0.299
5. Celestino Vietti (Kalex) 1:36.491 +0.313
9. Albert Arenas (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 1:36.844 +0.666

#37 PEDRO ACOSTA

“In Practice 1 we decided to go slower because we didn’t need to force things, make a mistake and crash in the first session of the weekend. In Practice 2 we ran a mock qualifying stint and it went quite well. We have a good pace but we lacked something to be amongst the fastest riders, although we are very close. The team are working very well and we have to be happy because the feeling is good. We will continue in this way.”

#75 ALBERT ARENAS

“It was important to start slowly, with the conditions and the cold that we had this morning. In the test we found a little more speed and we wanted to put it into practice here, concentrating on the race pace and being fast at this circuit. Tomorrow we’ll try to keep improving and we’ll work on our rear grip. We want to have a good qualifying spot for the race here at Le Mans, and we’ll do our best to get it.”

Partners



MotoE