The Moto3™ class kicked off a busy day of track action on Saturday morning at the Michelin® Grand Prix of France, with Valentin Perrone and Jacob Roulstone from Red Bull KTM Tech3 facing the qualifying sessions. Rookie Valentin Perrone earned himself his best qualifying result of the season so far, qualifying in 7th of the French Grand Prix. Teammate Jacob Roulstone faced an eventful Q1, which he topped despite a crash, but ultimately qualified in 18th on the grid.
Grand Prix de France
Already qualified in Q2 after Friday’s Practice, rookie Valentin Perrone arrived on Saturday with one thing less to worry. He maintained a decent pace all through the morning’s FP2 with a best lap in 1'41.032 which saw him take the 13th time of the session. At lunch time, Perrone headed directly to the final qualifying stage, and started with a best lap in 1’41.037 which provisionally had him in P10 at the pit stop taken by most riders. The young rookie gave an extra push in his very final flying lap to significantly improve to a 1’40.443, which will see him open the third row in 7th on the grid, ahead of the team’s home round on Sunday.
After finishing just at the doors of the top 14 and the Q2 tickets on Friday, Jacob Roulstone took most of the final Free Practice 2 on Saturday morning to fine-tune his bike and feeling ahead of the afternoon’s qualifying. After 18 laps, he took the 6th fastest time of the session, allowing him to head to Q1 with good confidence. The sun was fully out at lunch time for the Moto3™ qualifying, and an eventful session awaited Roulstone. Opting for the sole run strategy, the number 12 clocked in a decent 1’41.286 on the second flying lap, which he further improved to an excellent 1’41.201 that powered him to the top. He continued to push, but unfortunately crashed in his last flying lap. He remained first and joined teammate Perrone in Q2. Thanks to the quick work from his mechanic, Jacob was back in the saddle for Q2, minutes later for the pole position fight. He first started with a 1’41.364 which had him in P13 after a first run. No further improvements were managed by the Australian, who will line up in 18th on the grid on Sunday, as lights of the Michelin® Grand Prix of France go out at 11:00 (UTC+2) for 20 laps.
VALENTIN PERRONE: "I am really happy with our qualifying result! We have felt really comfortable since FP2 this morning, so I was really excited to go to Q2 this afternoon. We managed to do a really good lap in the end to qualify in 7th. We will try to go with the front group tomorrow and maintain a good rhythm, and then we'll see what happens in the last laps!"
JACOB ROULSTONE: "I felt really good with my pace this morning in FP2 and then later on in Q1. It is annoying that we made a little mistake in T7 in the last flying lap of Q1. We did not feel the same way then in Q2 and we did not manage as a team to put it together and follow our plan in Q2. Anyway, we felt great on the bike today, let's aim to take a good start to stay with the front group in the race, and go from there."
QUALIFYING RESULTS
1. Maximo Quiles (SPA), CFMOTO Aspar Team, 1'39.885
2. Guido Pini (ITA), Dynavolt IntactGP, +0.089
3. Joel Kelso (AUS), LevelUp-MTA, +0.098
7. Valentin Perrone (ARG), Red Bull KTM Tech3, +0.496
18. Jacob Roulstone (AUS), Red Bull KTM Tech3, +1.416
TRACK RECORDS
All Time Record: 2025 - J. Kelso (AUS) - 1'39.885 - 150.8 km/h
Best Race Lap: 2024 - J. Esteban (SPA) - 1'41.059 - 149.0 km/h
Best Pole: 2025 - M. Quiles (SPA) - 1'39.947 - 150.7 km/h
Top Speed: 2024 - S. Nepa (ITA) - 231.3 km/h
