Moto3™ kicked off the action of a packed Super Saturday at the Circuit of the Americas, with Red Bull KTM Tech3’s Valentin Perrone and Jacob Roulstone going through the qualifying. Both respectively qualified in P21 and P23 of the Red Bull Grand Prix of the Americas.
Grand Prix of The Americas
Friday’s bad weather was not quite ideal for a rookie to make his debuts in the Lone Star state, so luckily Saturday was slightly better. Although grey clouds still covered COTA for Free Practice 2, better track conditions left more space for improvements on Saturday morning. The young Argentinian appeared more confident on his KTM in the final Free Practice of the weekend, as he locked P9 with a 2’16.666 after 13 laps, a positive feeling heading to the afternoon’s qualifying. The sun had come out by qualifying time to warm up both our hearts and the track just in time for Moto3™ qualifying. Valentin Perrone opted for a sole run, and his early fast lap in 2’15.591 which had him provisionally in 6th with 2 minutes remaining on the clock remained his fastest, with no further improvements made. In the end he took the 7th time of the session, meaning that the Argentinian will start the Red Bull Grand Prix of the Americas from P21.
Day 2 of getting back in the saddle for Aussie Jacob Roulstone, and the feeling continued to become better. In Free Practice 2, the young number 12 took the 17th time with a 2'17.597 after 11 laps to prepare for both qualifying and race during the first dry session of the weekend. In Q1, Roulstone clocked in a 2’15.748 early into the session, before he returned to the pit box for a change of strategy. That only left him with one remaining lap to attack, which he could not improve. That lap from earlier on remained his best, placing him 9th in the timesheets, and in 23rd on the grid for his first race of the season. There’s only one thing left to do for our young guns, racing! Rendez-vous on Sunday at 11:00 local time (UTC-5). Watch out for the daylight saving time changes!
VALENTIN PERRONE: "The track conditions were not great in FP2 this morning, but still the feeling on the bike was good, I could make a really good lap which gave me confidence for qualifying. In Q1, the feeling was still good, but we could not put it all together to make a good enough lap. We will start a bit far, but I am looking forward to the race to continue learning."
JACOB ROULSTONE: "Difficult second day for us. It was not easy to prepare for the first time-attacks I have had in a while with not much dry track time this weekend, but I am looking forward to tomorrow's race. It has been in a while, so I just want to go out there and give my best on track!"
QUALIFYING RESULTS
1. David Muñoz (SPA), Intact GP, 2'14.422
2. Maximo Quiles (SPA), CFMOTO Aspar Team, +0.110
3. Joel Kelso (AUS), LevelUp-MTA, +0.124
21. Valentin Perrone (ARG), Red Bull KTM Tech3, +0.924 (Q1)
23. Jacob Roulstone (AUS), Red Bull KTM Tech3, +1.081 (Q1)
TRACK RECORDS
All Time Record: 2024 - D. Alonso (COL) - 2'14.153 - 147.9 km/h
Best Race Lap: 2024 - D. Holgado (SPA) - 2'14.866 - 147.1 km/h
Best Pole: 2025 - D. Muñoz (SPA) - 2'14.422 - 147.6 km/h
Top Speed: 2023 - S. Azman (MAL) - 247.1 km/h
