Pedro Acosta finishes in sixth position, while Albert Arenas is sixteenth.

The second day of the Malaysian Grand Prix began with an atypical Practice 3 and demanding weather conditions. The Red Bull KTM Ajo duo worked to achieve a good position in qualifying, in which Pedro Acosta was sixth. Albert Arenas, who had to go through Q1, will finally start from sixteenth.

Practice 3 saw numerous crashes and was stopped twice due to red flags. Acosta and Arenas adapted to the stoppages and fought to secure a direct spot in Q2. Acosta improved his feeling and times compared to Friday and, after 13 laps, his 2:05.964 placed him in fourth position, fifth overall. Arenas was not able to set his best time in an intense session, especially in the final minutes. With a 2:06.170, he finished in fourteenth position, fifteenth overall, and was forced to go through Q1.

Arenas has been very clear about his strategy from the get-go in Q1, and was able to improve his time from the morning to secure his place in Q2. The Red Bull KTM Ajo rider took second position with a 2:06.048, his best lap of the weekend. In Q2, Acosta suffered with the high temperatures and humidity, but the current World Championship leader continued improving his times, ensuring an optimal starting position for Sunday’s race. Thanks to his 2:05.894 on his penultimate lap, he will start from sixth position. Arenas had problems when it came to putting together a good lap. He tried to maintain the pace and good feeling, although in the end he was only able to finish 16th with a 2:06.651.

The 17-lap Moto2 Malaysian Grand Prix will take place on Sunday at 1:15 PM local time.
 

Results (Qualifying)
1. Fermin Aldeguer (Boscoscuro) 2:05.288
2. Celestino Vietti (Kalex) 2:05.790 +0.502
3. Manuel Gonzalez (Kalex) 2:05.815 +0.527
4. Aron Canet (Kalex) 2:05.850 +0.562
5. Marcos Ramirez (Kalex) 2:05.888 +0.600
6. Pedro Acosta(Red Bull KTM Ajo) 2:05.894 +0.606
16. Albert Arenas (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 2:06.651 +1.363

#37 PEDRO ACOSTA
“We worked a lot to improve on where we were lacking yesterday in FP2, and that is what we have focused on in qualifying. We are struggling to set a fast lap. Here in Malaysia, with the extreme conditions, we suffer a little more, but we are happy. I wasn’t able to set the best lap, but tomorrow we are going to try to fight and are confident. It is going to be a long race and hard on the tyres, especially if I have to follow someone. We will start in a good position, we are in the front group and we have the pace to fight for the podium.”

#75 ALBERT ARENAS
“It was a bit of a bittersweet day, but tomorrow is what counts. We will take away good things from today, which is the pace we had in Q1. It’s a shame that in Q2 we were not able to take advantage of the strategy we had, and were only able to put in a lap, although the speed is still there. It will be important to get a good start and we will see where we go with our pace.”