The Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto3 team will contest the first race of the year at the Losail International Circuit this weekend.

The wait is over for the Red Bull KTM Ajo team, who finally get to go racing again this weekend. After a pre-season full of intense and fruitful work, Jaume Masia and Pedro Acosta will open the 2021 campaign at the Losail International Circuit. For the fifteenth consecutive year, the Asian track hosts the inaugural event of the Moto3 World Championship season. Uniquely, it will do so with two consecutive rounds, beginning with the Qatar Grand Prix.

Both riders face the challenge ahead with a very optimistic mentality, after the positive test they undertook last week at the Qatari track. Masia showed that he is in top form, leading the final session of pre-season with great consistency and a strong pace. This weekend, the Spaniard will make his debut for Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto3 at a circuit where he finished in fourth place last year. Masia hopes to achieve good results that will allow him to fight for the world title at the end of the campaign.

Acosta will seek to continue with his rapid adaptation to both the class and to the KTM Moto3 bike. Last year’s Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup champion, he makes his World Championship debut after impressing in pre-season testing, in which he set the second fastest time at Losail. The 16-year-old talent has never raced at the Qatari track, but is buoyed by the knowledge he has gained in recent days.

The first race of 2021, the 18-lap Moto3 Qatar Grand Prix, will take place on Sunday at 5 PM, local time.

Circuit information – Losail International Circuit

Length: 5.380 metres / 3.343 miles
Width: 12 metres / 39.37 ft
Left corners: 6
Right corners: 10
Longest straight: 1.068 metres / 0.664 miles
Constructed: 2004

5 JAUME MASIA

“The goals for the 2021 season are to be consistent at every race, finish inside the Top 5 whenever possible and make no mistakes, in order to have a chance at the title at the end of the year. For this first Grand Prix in Qatar, we intend to finish in the best possible position, but we won’t be taking unnecessary risks. We feel very well prepared after the pre-season tests. We have a setup that I feel comfortable with, so I hope I can have great performance.
Losail has not been particularly good for me in the past. However, after three days of testing here last week, I have begun to understand the circuit better and enjoy it more. It has a couple of corners with a little level change, such as going from Turn 8 to Turn 9, but otherwise it is wide, fast and quite flat.”

37 PEDRO ACOSTA

“I’m looking forward to my first year in the World Championship. We will be able to set the goals for ourselves from the second round onwards since we have to see where we are in the race first of all. In testing, riding alone, we were fast, but fighting with other riders is a different thing. If we finish the Qatar GP inside the Top 10, we will be happy.
Our expectations are good, as we are coming off a positive pre-season. I rode here for the first time last week and, despite the fact that on the first day I had to be focused, in the rest of the sessions we were up at the front. We did a positive job, but we have to keep pushing ourselves and acquiring new knowledge”.