The Moto3™ class delivered the show on Sunday morning at the Grand Prix of Thailand, setting the stage for an exciting season and great battles to come in the lightweight class. The extreme heat of Buriram was an additional factor to consider in this opening round, and all riders delivered an exceptional performance, as they raced for 19 laps under 37 degrees in the air, and already 56 on the ground at lunch time. Whilst he had taken such a great start to his first race, Valentin Perrone crashed after 7 laps, and Joel Esteban managed an incredible 9th position in a chaotic opening race, after starting from 23rd on the grid.
Grand Prix of Thailand
All excited for his debuts in Moto3™, there was rookie Valentin Perrone from Red Bull KTM Tech3 lining up in 21st for the opening round of 2025. As lights went out for the first time this season at 12:00 local time for 19 laps under a scorching sun, Perrone took a great start, first gaining two positions to find himself behind Eddie O'Shea, and then behind David Almansa, with O’Shea crashing in the opening lap. Perrone exited lap 1 in P18. At the front, we had a typical Moto3™ race start, with Jose Antonio Rueda, Matteo Bertelle and rookie Alvaro Carpe already making the show as they battled it out in the first corners for top 3. Staying for a while behind Almansa, Valentin was then caught in a battle for 16th with Tatchakorn Buasri. Valentin got the best, and then continued to hold his pace to close the gap to Riccardo Rossi. At the front, Rueda was at the lead after 5 full laps, with a chasing group of five-six riders fighting for provisional second. Unfortunately, Valentin was brought down by Buasri who tried to overtake the Red Bull KTM Tech3 rider in turn 3 of lap 7, putting an early end to Perrone’s first race in the category. 7 laps of learning for the young rider, who will now be looking forward to his home round in Argentina.
Stepping in for Jacob Roulstone, Joel Esteban was starting from 23rd on the grid. The young Spaniard took a rather average start, appearing to struggle making his way in the back pack. He was in P20 after one lap, and then moved to 19th behind Jakob Rosenthaler on lap 3, to find himself 2.3 seconds behind Buasri. A few crashes ahead helped him move to 17th after 8 laps. With ten laps to go, he was in 18th behind CIP's Adrian Cruces, who he managed to overtake, and another crash, one from Ryusei Yamanaka, saw him enter in the top scoring positions, with next on Ruche Moodley a bit less than 3 seconds away. Some crashes ahead in the final laps helped him gain a few more positions as he continued to push to try closing the gap to the group ahead. Another crash between Angel Piqueras and Joel Kelso created chaos ahead, powering Jacob Roulstone’s substitute to 11th at the doors of the top 10 as just 3 laps remained, with Rueda leading by 5 seconds. Two more crashes at the front in the final lap meant that he saw the checkered flag in 9th, and scored the first 7 points of the Red Bull KTM Tech3 team.
We were so glad to finally be back racing, the season is truly on, and next on is the Grand Prix of Argentina on March 14-16, a stop that we are looking forward to, as we did not get to go there in 2024!
VALENTIN PERRONE: "It is not the first race I would have hoped for sure, but I can be pretty happy with the start I made. I was in P16, closing the gap to the front group, but unfortunately a rider tried to overtake me, and crashed just in front, but I could not avoid him. We learnt a lot today, so let’s look forward to the next race in Argentina!"
JOEL ESTEBAN: "I am happy with the result of course, but I feel disappointed with the start of my race, where I made many mistakes. I was not feeling great with the new tyres, I felt like I was always losing the front, but then I settled a bit more and the second half of the race was good, I felt much better. We take P9 which is great, so thank you to the team for this opportunity, and to everyone else involved!"
HERVE PONCHARAL, Team Principal: "I have mixed emotions, not sure if I need to smile or cry, after this first Moto3 race of the season! What makes me smile is that after two tough winter tests, Joel Esteban, replacing Jacob Roulstone, finally put it all together today in the race and managed to finish in the top 10, which is always positive when you start a new season. For sure, many crashes ahead helped him, but at the end of the day, when you race in these really difficult track conditions, you need to be in survival mode, and Joel did the job today. Thanks to him for having stepped in Jacob’s boots, and hopefully this result will give him a boost for the next round. I am very disappointed for Valentin Perrone, who took a great start today, he was close to the leading group until he crashed. The mission was to finish the race to be able to learn as much as possible, but sadly he was brought down when another rider crashed in front of him. Typical Moto3 crash, and very unfortunate for us. I feel like we could have been in the points with him today for his first race, which would have been great. He did a great job this weekend, so let’s carry on for his home race in Argentina next week!"
RACE RESULTS
1. Jose Antonio Rueda (SPA), Red Bull KTM Ajo, 32'14.402
2. Alvaro Carpe (SPA), Red Bull KTM Ajo, +7.276
3. Adrian Fernandez (SPA), Leopard Racing, +7.341
9. Joel Esteban (SPA), Red Bull KTM Tech3, +21.956
DNF. Valentin Perrone (SPA), Red Bull KTM Tech3
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDING
1. Jose Antonio Rueda (SPA), Red Bull KTM Ajo, 25 pts
2. Alvaro Carpe (SPA), Red Bull KTM Ajo, 20 pts
3. Adrian Fernandez (SPA), Leopard Racing, 16 pts
9. Joel Esteban (SPA), Red Bull KTM Tech3, 7 pts
TRACK RECORDS
All Time Record: 2025 - J. Rueda (SPA) - 1'40.350, 163.3 km/h
Best Race Lap: 2025 - D. Munoz (SPA) - 1'41.042, 162.2 km/h
Best Pole: 2025 - M. Bertelle (ITA) - 1'40.400, 163.2 km/h
Top Speed: 2024 - T. Suzuki (JAP) - 240.0 km/h
