‘Most-awaited moment of the season for Tech3’

Tech3, MotoGP’s only French-based team, arrives for its home Le Mans round with star rookie Pedro Acosta eager to make amends for a tough race at Jerez while Augusto Fernandez returns to the scene of his best premier-class race.

"Here comes the most-awaited moment of the season for Red Bull GASGAS Tech3 as the team is going to show up in front of their home crowd at the Michelin Grand Prix de France, at the mythical Bugatti circuit of Le Mans,” said team manager Nicolas Goyon.

“This round is always special for the French-based squad, as we get to meet all the people supporting us.

“Last year was incredible, many motorcycle fans showed up, and the French GP beat the spectators attendance record.

“We know that there will be many fans coming again this year, and I am sure that both Pedro Acosta and Augusto Fernandez will be lifted by this wave of support.”

After Grand Prix podiums at Portimao and COTA, then a runner-up finish in the Sprint, Acosta’s momentum came to a brutal halt with a big warm-up accident on Sunday morning at Jerez.

A clutch issue with his rebuilt bike left the teenager in tenth place, where he had started, after his first taste of a wet qualifying left him on the fourth row of the grid.

Le Mans is famous for unpredictable weather but, for now, the forecast looks stable for this Saturday’s qualifying – although some storms are forecast for Sunday...

“Since the start of the season, Pedro has shown an incredible level of performance, but a small mistake in qualifying in Jerez put him in difficulty for the rest of the weekend, but it is part of the learning process,” Goyon added.

“For sure, he will use the experience he now has, in addition to the things worked on during the Jerez Test, to make the show in France.”

Acosta, who remains the top KTM rider in the world championship standings despite slipping to fourth, completed 75 laps at the Jerez post-race test, his first chance for track time away from a grand prix weekend since the season began.

“We are arriving in France with a lot of things learnt from Jerez,” Acosta said.

“After four rounds, we knew the areas where we had to improve on, and the test helped us a lot in that sense, so I think that we are heading to France in a much better position.

“Le Mans is a circuit that I like, and it is also the home Grand Prix for the Tech3 team, so we will try to do our best, starting with improving our qualifying on Saturday, and trying to get a good grid position.

“I'm really looking forward to racing there, in front of a crowd that loves motorcycling to the max!"

Team-mate Augusto Fernandez produced his best ride of the season to take fourth place, as a rookie, at Le Mans last year. The Spaniard has been no higher than seventh, in the Jerez Sprint, so far this year during a ‘difficult’ start to 2024.

"I am super excited to go to France. I love the track, where I had great results in the past, [including] last season, when I got my best MotoGP result,” Fernandez said.

“The start of the season has been difficult for us, we are not arriving in Le Mans at the best moment, but we are really motivated to do well there, we know that we need to work well from Friday morning, to try having a decent qualifying, and a good race on Sunday.

“The test in Jerez helped me get a bit more confidence on the bike, and hopefully heading to a track that I enjoy a lot will be a bonus for us."

“On Augusto’s side, we know that the results are not the ones expected, but Le Mans is special to him, he really loves that track, and generally performs well,” said Goyon.

“He won in Moto2, and last season, he finished 4th at six seconds from the winner, which is his best MotoGP result. I really believe that all conditions are gathered for both riders to perform in France, so bring on the show!"

A record 278,805 fans attended last year’s French MotoGP, including a race day crowd of 116,692.