Pedro Acosta places third in the Japanese Grand Prix, with teammate Albert Arenas eighteenth.

This Sunday, the Japanese Grand Prix race was held at Mobility Resort Motegi. The Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto2 riders faced a demanding race, in which Pedro Acosta finished in third position, taking his third podium of the year. Albert Arenas tried to gain positions and placed eighteenth.

After starting the race from the second row of the grid, Acosta was clipped early on and dropped to sixth place. The current Moto2 World Championship leader quickly increased the pace and was able to climb to third position in the space of just a few laps. Acosta maintained a consistent pace on the Japanese circuit and did not want to take excessive risks, securing important points. He crossed the finish line in third position, finishing on the podium for the third consecutive race and the eleventh time this season. He increases his lead in the title fight to 50 points.

Albert Arenas started the race 20th, which forced him to make a comeback from the start. The Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto2 rider faced a demanding race in which the field was progressively stretched out. The Spanish rider tried to increase the pace and began to close the gap, with the points zone as his target. After the first half of the race, Arenas managed to reach the sixteenth position although in the final stretch he went down to 18th, where he took the chequered flag. Arenas has 61 points and is fourteenth in the overall standings.

The next race for the Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto2 duo is in 2 weeks in Indonesia, from October 13-15th.

Results (Race)
1. Somkiat Chantra (Kalex) 35:19.273
2. Ai Ogura (Kalex) +1.353
3. Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Ajo) +3.080
4. Jake Dixon (Kalex) +5.065
5. Filip Salac (Kalex) +10.492
18. Albert Arenas (Red Bull KTM Ajo) +27.371

Moto2 World Championship Standing 2023
1. Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 252 points
2. Tony Arbolino (Kalex) 202 points
3. Jake Dixon (Kalex) 159 points
4. Aron Canet (Kalex) 124 points
5. Alonso Lopez (Kalex) 119 points
14. Albert Arenas (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 61 points

Moto2 Teams World Championship Standings 2023
1. Red Bull KTM Ajo 313 points
2. ELF Marc VDS 276 points
3. Idemitsu Honda Team Asia 209 points
4. Beta Toosl Speedup 207 points
5. Pons Wegow Los40 200 points

Aki Ajo – Team Manager:
“Once again Pedro had a really strong race. We need to be really happy about third position and a good showing. Of course, it is so important to get points in every race. Pedro has learned very well that we don’t need to fight for the win every time; we need to read the situation, look at the starting position and evaluate how the feeling is during the weekend. We were already saying before the race that it was really important to survive the first laps and use our pace to finish as high as possible. He did a very professional and clever job, Albert definitely took a step forward during the weekend. After the injury it was not the easiest time for him, but he was able to push more, and especially in practice he showed a really good pace. Unfortunately in the race we could not do exactly the same, but in any case we finished the race and he is recovering. Every weekend we are getting stronger and stronger.”

#37 PEDRO ACOSTA

“I didn’t get a good start due to being clipped and I lost time on the first lap. This hindered us a bit, since we weren’t able to make up the distance to those at the front. It’s still a positive result because we leave Japan with a podium. It is always positive to continue adding points, and even more so on a weekend that did not go entirely as we wanted, but we were still able to be competitive. We will continue working to improve at the next race in Indonesia.”

#75 ALBERT ARENAS

“It was tough race in Japan. It was a challenging weekend and we knew it would be beforehand, but we made good progress -although today the race didn’t go as I had wanted. We found some pace and we also worked hard to be in contention. We will take away the positives, and it will help us to face the coming races.”