Points for Pedro with 9th place in Mugello MotoGP™ Sprint

5.2km in length and with one of the fastest and most spectacular layouts on the calendar, Mugello welcomed back MotoGP for the 40th Grand Prix at the venue and the 50th year since the world championship first circulated the swift and open curves in Tuscany.

On Friday Enea Bastianini achieved Q2 qualification with the third fastest lap in Practice, leaving Pedro Acosta, Brad Binder and Maverick Viñales to contend with Q1 on Saturday morning. From that sun-kissed session Acosta achieved P2 and joined Bastianini in the chase for slots on the first three rows of the grid. When the blast through qualification was complete it was Acosta who was the quickest on the KTM RC16 with P10 and Bastianini in P11. Binder and Viñales qualified P14 and P19 respectively.

The Sprint was an 11-lap affair of speed and slipstreaming. Pedro and Enea tussled for P8 before the Italian crashed while braking into Turn 10 with 7 laps to go. Pedro continued his charge and made sure of P9. Brad circulated just outside the top ten and fended off interest from Alex Rins to finish 11th. Maverick crossed the line in 15th.

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing and Red Bull KTM Tech3 will reset and prep for the longer distance on Sunday. The Grand Prix gets rolling with 23 laps starting at 14.00 CEST tomorrow.

Pedro Acosta, 10th in qualification, 9th in the Sprint: “A difficult day. We were not expecting too much here in Mugello. The others made a step and we are still on Friday’s level. We have to understand why we were so competitive in Barcelona but here it is more difficult. In braking points the bike feels really OK and more weight on the front was helping. We’ll see tomorrow. It’s hard to know which tire we’ll use.”

Brad Binder, 14th in qualification, 11th in the Sprint: “I got a decent enough start but didn’t have the pace to go with the dudes in front of me. I feel quite OK…but I don’t have the speed to move higher up the grid and we struggle when the front tire drops. We’ll try and find some pace tomorrow, balance things out and get more involved in the fight.”

Maverick Viñales, 19th in qualification, 15th in the Sprint: “In terms of speed and lap-time it was much more complicated than yesterday and with the increased track temperature. When I pushed more today I was able to see where we need to work a bit more, so we need to focus to improve. I knew I would suffer with my shoulder at this track but this is the best training I could do and I kept a consistent rhythm.”

Enea Bastianini, 11th in qualification, DNF in the Sprint: “We are a bit on the limit. Yesterday we were competitive but the others improved a lot! We’ll try to make a step for tomorrow. It’s my home GP and I wanted to do a good result. We are strong on braking and we tried to close the gap. We’ll try again tomorrow.”

Aki Ajo, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Team Manager: “Not our best Sprint today. A top ten in this category is always a good result but, for sure, our targets are higher. We’ve made progress in the last months and this means we can’t be that happy with 9-11-15 but tomorrow is another chance to improve and we feel there is a good chance.”

Results Qualifying MotoGP Grand Prix of Italy

1. Marco Bezzecchi (ITA) Aprilia 1:43.921
2. Raul Fernandez (ESP) Aprilia +0.224
3. Jorge Martin (ESP) Aprilia +0.363
10. Pedro Acosta (ESP) Red Bull KTM Factory Racing +0.789
11. Enea Bastianini (ITA) Red Bull KTM Tech3 +0.942
14. Brad Binder (RSA) Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 1:44.908 (Q1)
19. Maverick Viñales (ESP) Red Bull KTM Tech3 1:45.873 (Q1)

1. Raul Fernandez (ESP) Aprilia 19:28.408
2. Jorge Martin (ESP) Aprilia +1.289
3. Fabio Di Giannantonio (ITA) Ducati +3.287
9. Pedro Acosta (ESP) Red Bull KTM Factory Racing +11.809
11. Brad Binder (RSA) Red Bull KTM Factory Racing +16.690
15. Maverick Viñales (ESP) Red Bull KTM Tech3 +20.669

Moto3 qualification passed in a flash as the Red Bull KTM Ajo and Red Bull KTM Tech3 riders tried to find tows and the smoothest, sweeping lines around Mugello. Brian Uriarte emerged with the best lap-time through the fierce sunshine and was only 0.2 of a second from Pole Position. The rookie sealed P5 for the middle of the second row. Less than one second split all 18 runners in Q2. Alvaro Carpe was P12 and Valentin Perrone filled P16. Rico Salmela’s first attempt at Mugello ended with P22. KTM RC4s will fill the six of the first nine positions on the grid for the 17-lap race tomorrow at 11.00 local time.

Moto2™ was equally tight and with near-2-minute lap-times the riders needed to be strategic and decisive with their quali efforts. Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Collin Veijer built his way up to pace during practice and eventually hit his markers in Q2 to place P5 on the grid. The Dutchman was 0.7 from Pole. Jose Antonio Rueda’s initial Moto2 taste of Mugello ended with P21. Moto2 will run for 19 laps on Sunday.

The first race of the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup was a desperately close affair between almost the entire pack. Ryota Ogiwara’s margin of victory was 0.074 from current championship leader Beñat Fernandez while 0.9 was the bracket from 1st to 12th. The Japanese youngster will aim for a double on Sunday morning to wrap the fourth date from eight on the 2026 calendar.

1. David Almansa (ESP), KTM 1:54.862
2. Hakim Danish (MAL), KTM +0.018
3. Joel Kelso (AUS), Honda +0.125
4. Brian Uriarte (ESP), Red Bull KTM Ajo +0.230
8. Marco Morelli (ARG) CFMOTO Aspar Team +0.512
12. Alvaro Carpe (ESP), Red Bull KTM Ajo +0.649
15. Maximo Quiles (ESP), CFMOTO Aspar Team +0.888
16. Valentin Perrone (ARG) Red Bull KTM Tech3 +0.917
22. Rico Salmela (FIN), Red Bull KTM Tech3 1:56.553 (Q1)

1. Manuel Gonzalez (ESP) 1:48.474
2. Filip Salac (CZE) +0.249
3. Alex Escrig (ESP) +0.367
4. Daniel Holgado (ESP) CFMOTO Inde Aspar Team +0.592
5. Collin Veijer (NED) Red Bull KTM Ajo +0.732
9. David Alonso (COL) CFMOTO Inde Aspar Team +0.862
21. Jose Antonio Rueda (ESP) Red Bull KTM Ajo 1:49.742 (Q1)