Moto3™ kicked off a new day of action at the Grand Prix of Argentina in Termas de Río Hondo, with Red Bull KTM Tech3’s Valentin Perrone and Joel Esteban hitting the track fresh and early with Free Practice 2. Already qualified in Q2 after their impressive efforts from Friday’s Practice, local boy Perrone earned himself a hard-fought 9th place on the grid, his best qualifying result so far, and teammate Esteban will start his first Argentina GP just behind, in 10th.
Grand Prix of Argentina
The dream continued on Saturday for local hero Valentin Perrone, who got himself a direct Q2 ticket after taking the 4th time of Friday’s Practice. In the morning’s FP2, Valentin could slightly improve from his best of day 1, with a 1’47.533, allowing the young rookie to head to the afternoon’s qualifying shootout with good confidence. Joel Esteban’s first time in Argentina has been pretty decent too so far, with the young Spaniard also already qualified in Q2 after Friday. The better track conditions of the morning gave him extra confidence to push a bit more in FP2, and he improved to 1'47.958, before heading to Q2 later on in the day.
Clouds eventually started to drop a few tears, but with a pretty bad timing, with small drops of rain covering the Termas de Río Hondo track just before the final qualifying stage of the lightweight class. With no experience on the wet so far, Valentin Perrone and Joel Esteban fought their way through the small drops, hoping to get the best laps possible while the track was still dry. After the first run, Perrone sat in a provisional 12th place with a 1’47.234, and Esteban was in 5th with a 1’46.902, just 0.477 seconds off provisional poleman Matteo Bertelle. In the second run, the Argentinian improved to 1’46.953 to move up to 8th, while a Odgen-Rossi crash ahead imposed a yellow flag. Luckily, it was quickly waved down, leaving Perrone and Esteban with one lap to go. Times improved in the final laps, but Perrone gave an extra push to improve to 1’46.896, to qualify in P9 on the grid of his home GP. Esteban, disturbed by the crash between two riders, could not provide a late effort, and his 1’46.902 remained his best. Tomorrow, the young Spaniard will line up just behind his teammate, in P10, as lights of the Grand Prix of Argentina will go out at 12:00 local time (UTC-3), for 18 laps.
VALENTIN PERRONE: "I feel really happy and comfortable with the bike, with the team, and we have been enjoying a lot of our time here so far. We made a big step from the last round in Thailand, so I am heading to tomorrow's race with a lot of excitement! We will try to take a good start, to hopefully stay with the front group until the end!"
JOEL ESTEBAN: "The day was pretty good for us! This morning, we worked on our race pace to prepare for tomorrow, trying to make a decision with tyres. We had a drop towards the end, so we will have to make an important choice for Sunday. In qualifying, we did a great job in the first run, and I was on my way to improving during the second run, but the crashes ahead bothered me and eventually I could not improve. P10 is already good, I am really happy, and I am looking forward to tomorrow's race! We will push hard, try to have some good battles, and hopefully get a good result."
QUALIFYING RESULTS
1. Matteo Bertelle (ITA), LevelUp - MTA, 1'46.034
2. Angel Piqueras (SPA), MT Helmets - MSI, +0.232
3. Ryusei Yamanaka (JPN), MT Helmets - MSI, +0.296
9. Valentin Perrone (ARG), Red Bull KTM Tech3, +0.862
10. Joel Esteban (SPA), Red Bull KTM Tech3, +0.868
TRACK RECORDS
All Time Record: 2025 - M. Bertelle (ITA) - 1'46.034 - 163.1 km/h
Best Race Lap: 2022 - A. Migno (ITA) - 1'48.834 - 158.9 km/h
Best Pole: 2025 - M. Bertelle (ITA) - 1'46.034 - 163.1 km/h
Top Speed: 2025 - A. Carpe (SPA) - 244.3 km/h
