Pedro Acosta will start fourth at the Japanese GP, while Albert Arenas will be twentieth.

Red Bull KTM Ajo undertook the second day of the Japanese Grand Prix on Saturday. Albert Arenas did not get out of Q1 and will start from twentieth, but Pedro Acosta fought for the front row until the end and finished in fourth position.

Practice 3 was the definitive opportunity to qualify directly for Q2, and Acosta continued working with his sights set on Sunday’s race, improving his times and entering the Top 3. The current World Championship leader completed a total of 12 laps, achieving his best time on the fifth of these. Thanks to his 1:50.382, he placed in third position. Arenas improved his feeling and continues to reduce the discomfort in his shoulder. The Red Bull KTM Ajo rider tried to finish among the top 15, but finally fell short despite some intense work. With a time of 1:51.076 on his last lap, he was seventeenth.

Arenas achieved his best time of the weekend, a 1:50.564, in an attempt to make it from Q1 to Q2. However, it was only enough for sixth place. He will start the race from the seventh row, in 20th. Going directly into Q2, Acosta set a strong time on a persistent quest for a place high up the order, and a 1:50.131 set late on put him fourth, just off the front row.

The Moto2 Japanese Grand Prix will take place on Sunday at 1:15pm local time.

Results (Qualifying session)
1. Somkiat Chantra (Kalex) 1:49.898
2. Ai Ogura (Kalex) 1:50.018 +0.120
3. Jake Dixon (Kalex) 1:50.058 +0.160
4. Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 1:50.131 +0.233
5. Filip Salac (Kalex) 1:50.138 +0.240
20. Albert Arenas (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 1:50.564 +0.475 *Q1 Time

#37 PEDRO ACOSTA

“We worked on our race pace, although we were a little lacking in terms of a hot lap. We continue working well and are focused on Sunday. We are consistent and tomorrow it will be important to have a good start to the race in order to fight for a good result.”

#75 ALBERT ARENAS

“I am not satisfied with today’s result. After not feeling completely comfortable in Practice 3 I managed to take another step forward, be consistent and improve in qualifying. I have thought a lot about the race, although the work done wasn’t enough to move into Q2. I’ll take the positives away: We have pace, I feel better and tomorrow we will try to make a good start to see how far we can go in the race.”