The Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto2 rider battles for pole at Misano.

The Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli hosted qualifying for the San Marino Grand Prix on Saturday. Pedro Acosta fought for pole until the end, finishing just 1 thousandth of a second off the top spot, and claimed his eighth front row of the season. Albert Arenas was declared unfit after his crash yesterday and will not compete in the remainder of the Grand Prix.

Acosta continued working on his race pace after leading the way on Friday, but whilst he had a good feeling at the Italian track, he did not improve his times from the previous day. The Spanish rider continues to consolidate his progress and set his best time at the beginning of the session, on the sixth lap. With the pass to Q2 assured, Acosta finished sixth with a time of 1:36.338.

Moto2 qualifying was the key moment to determine the starting position for Sunday’s race. High temperatures affected Q2 and, after a pit stop, Acosta took a step forward and snatched the lead with just 3 minutes remaining. The Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto2 rider made a series of time attacks thereafter, but his best times were cancelled out due to yellow flags and in the final moments he had pole position taken away from him by just 0.080s. He will start the race from second, on the front row for the eighth time this season.

The Moto2 San Marino GP will be held on Sunday, starting at 12:15 PM local time.
 

Results (Qualifying session)
1. Celestino Vietti (Kalex) 1:36.201
2. Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 1:36.281 +0.080
3. Manuel Gonzalex (Kalex) 1:36.421 +0.220
4. Aron Canet (Kalex) 1:36.424 +0.223
5. Mattia Pasini (Kalex) 1:36.484 +0.283

#37 PEDRO ACOSTA

“We are doing a good job, and have been preparing the race well from the beginning of the weekend. We have been managing to overcome all the aspects that hurt us last year and now we have been quite strong from the first practice onwards. We have good pace; it is going to be a race with quite a lot of heat and we will have to see how it turns out, but we are confident in being able to fight to at the front.”