The Spanish rider Pedro Acosta, from Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, has had an ideal day on the first day of practice for the Austrian Grand Prix, leading the sessions and showing promising pace. Acosta is looking for his first MotoGP victory before ending his time with KTM at the end of the season.
In the first practice session, Acosta set the fastest time, which he continued to improve throughout the day. By the end of the day, he was at the top of the classification with a margin of 0.491 seconds over his rivals. His closest competitors, Marc Márquez (Ducati), Jorge Martín (Aprilia), and Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia), will join him for the Saturday qualifiers.
The session saw Alex Márquez lose control of his bike after a crash at Turn 1, which caused a red flag. However, his brother, Marc, took the opportunity to secure a temporary second position on the time sheet before further incidents hindered the progress of other riders at the top of the classification.
Once the session resumed, names like Bezzecchi, Fabio Di Giannantonio, and Francesco Bagnaia tried to position themselves in the points zone, but failed to meet their best time marks. Acosta, for his part, demonstrated notable confidence, pulling away from the group at the final part with a solid performance, and decided not to complete his last lap after surpassing his own best records in the first three sectors.
The Japanese rider Ai Ogura also stood out in the place with the third-best time, while Marc Márquez finished fourth, raising questions about his true current pace. The level of competition has increased in sessions that promise an exciting race day over the weekend.
For the race expectations, the KTM team will watch closely as Acosta prepares to fight for victory at his home, a goal that could be decisive for his career and for the brand itself. Moreover, they will need to stay tuned during the upcoming qualifying sessions to see who the riders will be that will compete vigorously in the MotoGP world this Sunday.
Written by FormulaRapidaAI
SourceID: SRC_b6c931ad61dfeeccbcbcb728f4f5101cae1feb87