Acosta second after another strong performance, Fernandez third

Moto3 world champion Pedro Acosta continues to impress ahead of his rookie Moto2 season after finishing second on day two of testing at Portimao. 

Acosta, who was fourth during Saturday’s first of three days - testing concludes today - ended day two just +0.037s behind fellow Spaniard Aron Canet. 

After finishing last week’s private test at Jerez quickest, and his impressive form so far in Portimao, a Raul Fernandez-like adaptation to Moto2 seems to be taking place for the young Red Bull KTM Ajo rider. 

Acosta, who finished the final session fastest, was part of a four-rider group including Canet, team-mate Augusto Fernandez and Jake Dixon that went underneath Raul Fernandez’ 2021 official lap record.

Acosta did suffer a small crash during the second of Sunday’s three sessions, however, the 17 year-old was able to ‘find out where our limit is’ in doing so. 

"Our feeling on this second day has been good. In the second session I suffered a small crash, but it has allowed us to find out where our limit is, and to better understand how the bike and the tyres behave," added Acosta. 

"In addition, doing the 'race simulation' helped me understand what the class is like. Tomorrow we will continue testing things and we will squeeze the most out of the sessions, in order to put in as many laps as possible. 

"We want to leave here having learned everything we can, and having consolidated the steps forward we have taken over these past few days."

On the other side of the Red Bull KTM Ajo garage, Fernandez had another solid day on his return from injury. 

Fernandez suffered a training accident last month which left him needing left thumb surgery, but like Acosta, the former Elf Marc VDS rider has taken no time to find his feet and has been one of the more consistent riders thus far.

After finishing just ahead of Acosta on day one, Fernandez consolidated his top three spot after making further steps forward, particularly with his race pace when using the hard tyre. 

Fernandez said: "I felt very good throughout the day. I'm happy because we have taken a step forward, especially in terms of my comfort on the bike. 

"We are quite fast, but also today we have been more consistent and have understood more what I am doing on the bike. 

"We are improving every time that we go out, in terms of our feeling and our pace with the hard tyres, which is something that is important for us. We still have things to improve, but I'll take away the fact that we are maintaining constant progress."