The Moto3™ class kicked off an exciting race day on Sunday at the Michelin® Grand Prix of France, although an early morning rain freshened and dampened the track. Still the race was declared dry at 11am, with the warm up of the premier class having dried the main lines. Rookie Valentin Perrone delivered a solid performance in Le Mans, finishing in P10 for the second round in a row, while Jacob Roulstone finished in 13th after starting from 18th.
Grand Prix de France
Starting from 7th on the grid, his best starting position of the season so far, rookie Valentin Perrone took a decent start to his French GP, holding it to the pack in the first tricky turns of the Dunlop chicane. He was in 6th behind David Munoz after the first sector, with Jose Antonio Rueda close behind. The Ajo rider went past in the following lap, but Valentin managed to stick to the front group led by Joel Kelso. As all riders settled into their pace, Perrone dropped a few positions to sit in 11th after 5 laps, although he remained in the leading pack of 15 riders! Many battles were going on in that big group, which soon started to dismantle itself as we saw 6 riders make a small gap ahead, but Valentin continued to hold on, starting lap 11 in 11th, close to David Almansa. Angel Piqueras’ crash ahead saw him enter in the top 10, to P9 behind Adrian Fernandez, while Maximo Quiles also made a small mistake. In the following lap, Valentin continued his progression to 8th as he held a similar pace to his opponents ahead. It was then P6 after 13 laps for Perrone moving past Adrian Fernandez, and Guido Pini’s crash on T8 of lap 14 earned him a top 5 entrance. Almansa passed by P6 with 5 laps to go. Valentin then dropped a bit the pace which allowed Taiyo Furusato to go through to 6th. 7th with 3 laps to go for the young rookie, but watch out for Adrian Fernandez not far behind, 0.298 seconds. Unfortunately, a small mistake from the number 73 saw him drop 3 positions in the final lap, and we saw him take the finish line in 10th, to equal his best season result reached in Jerez two weeks ago. Good job Valentin!
Australian Jacob Roulstone took his fourth start of the season on Sunday in Le Mans from the 18th position on the grid. As lights were out at 11am in front of an already packed Bugatti circuit, the Red Bull KTM Tech3 rider lost two positions to P20 as he struggled to find his way through the early traffic. A few laps later as he settled more into his race pace, Jacob progressively began to move up, first gaining back the two lost positions to 18th, and then he was in 17th 0.3 seconds from Nicola Carraro after 10 laps. His pace allowed him to move past the Italian to 16th. After 15 laps, some mistakes ahead meant that Jacob found himself in the point-scoring positions, and he sat in 14th 1.5 seconds away from Dennis Foggia. The gap to the group ahead remained pretty much the same for the final laps, but Jacob benefited from a late mistake of Cormac Buchanan ahead to cross the finish line in P13, to score 3 points.
The Red Bull KTM Tech3 Moto3™ squad will stay one more day in Le Mans, with the team participating in the Le Mans test on Monday.
VALENTIN PERRONE: "Super happy with our result of the day. We stayed with the front group today, held on with their pace, so it is really positive for us. Obviously, we still have to learn, but today was a great experience and learning, which is encouraging heading to the next race."
JACOB ROULSTONE: "Mixed feelings about this race. We are happy to earn some points as we worked back some positions from 18th on the grid. Still, we struggled in the opening laps, I was not positioning myself well enough, so I am a bit frustrated. Anyway, it is a race for learning today, and I am happy to stay one more day for tomorrow's test, which will be really useful for myself!"
HERVE PONCHARAL, Team Principal: "A great weekend overall for the Red Bull KTM Tech3 Moto3 team! Valentin Perrone got his best qualifying result on Saturday and he delivered a really solid race today. He took a great start and stayed during the whole race with the front group composed of very fast riders with much more experience than him. The last lap was messy as usual, so he ended up in P10, which we are really happy with. Valentin is learning so fast, and every weekend he gets better and better. He made an immense step today, so we are really happy with him, so congratulations Valentin. Jacob Roulstone started a bit far following his Q1 crash, but he managed a decent race to P13 quite close to the leaders, with encouraging lap times, although we are targeting more for him of course . Thank you to both riders and the team, who will stay for one more day of testing here in Le Mans. It looks like it will be rainy, but we will take advantage of the wet conditions, which could be useful ahead of the British Grand Prix in two weeks."
RACE RESULTS
1. Jose Antonio Rueda (SPA), Red Bull KTM Ajo, 34'01.752
2. Joel Kelso (AUS), LevelUp-MTA, +0.636
3. David Munoz (SPA), Dynavolt Intact GP, +0.124
10. Valentin Perrone (ARG), Red Bull KTM Tech3, +7.241
13. Jacob Roulstone (AUS), Red Bull KTM Tech3, +12.153
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDING
1. Jose Antonio Rueda (SPA), Red Bull KTM Ajo, 116pts
2. Angel Piqueras (SPA), MT Helmets - MSI, 87pts
3. Joel Kelso (AUS), Level-up - MTA, 77pts
18. Jacob Roulstone (AUS), Red Bull KTM Tech3, 14pts
20. Valentin Perrone (ARG), Red Bull KTM Tech3, 13pts
TRACK RECORDS
All Time Record: 2025 - J. Kelso (AUS) - 1'39.885 - 150.8 km/h
Best Race Lap: 2025 - A. Carpe (SPA) - 1'40.838 - 149.4 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
