Red Bull KTM Tech3's Valentin Perrone treated us with an amazing remontada on Sunday at the Brembo Grand Prix of Mugello. Forced to start from the back of the grid, the young rookie delivered a stunning performance in the Moto3™ race and was amongst the contenders for the win until the very final lap. He ended up with an 8th place after the usual last lap craziness, but it is a solid result brought home by 'El Coyote'. Teammate Jacob Roulstone was a bit unlucky, having to avoid two incidents which caused him significant time loss, but he fought as hard as he could to close this Italian round with a 13th position, and points.
Grand Prix of Italy
Track conditions were a bit milder on Sunday at the Autodromo Internazionale del Mugello, with the rain from overnight having refreshed everyone. No more signs of water on track though, and the race was fully wet with the sun shining at race start. Despite a great initial qualifying which had him in 6th on the grid, Valentin Perrone faced a back-of-the-grid penalty following slow riding during qualifying on Saturday. Everything had to be redone for the young rookie, who launched from 26th when lights went out at 11am. The young rookie gained 9 positions in the first corners to find himself in the big pack, and he was in 16th already after one lap. Feeling good, the young Argentinian continued his fast remontada, to 11th after just two laps. Insane start from the young rookie! Perrone continued to charge, lapping a hot 1’56.824 on lap 3, which allowed him to comeback to 6th on lap 4. And just like that, he was back in the leading group, ready to fight for the big points! There were battles all over the place in that big leading group, with still no one standing out for the victory yet. Positions continued to change, and Valentin found himself up to 4th on lap 7, seconds after being further back in 10th. Then there was drama! A crash between Luca Lunetta and Adrian Fernandez entering lap 9 freed some space, and a front three slowly started to form, with Maximo Quiles leading Alvaro Carpe and Valentin Perrone after 10 laps. Valentin continued to impress with decent race pace, as he held it to the race leaders. With four laps to go, the young ‘Coyote’ was in 4th as all riders started to give an extra push for the big finale. It was impossible to guess who was going to take the win in the end. Alvaro Carpe seemed to make a small gap at the front followed closely by Maximo Quiles and Dennis Foggia. Taiyo Furusato suddenly appeared, up to 4th ahead of Jose Antonio Rueda and Valentin Perrone. 2 laps to go, and Valentin was further down in 9th, while a clear group of 12 riders had now formed itself at the front. Entering the last lap, Valentin was in 5th at the exit of T1, but it was a hectic final lap, with all riders going for it at the Mugello! Perrone dropped from the fight after an elbow-to-elbow moment with another rider, and eventually settled for 8th at the checkered flag, a solid reward for the young number 73, considering he had to start from the back of the grid!
Starting from 5th, his best grid position of the season so far, Australian Jacob Roulstone positioned himself straight on the right, but he was forced to take T1 on the outside with David Almansa keeping the line on the inside. David Muñoz just behind was already pressuring the number 12, but he held on and was in 6th after the opening lap. David Almansa led charges after the first lap but dropped positions in the next lap leaving Jacob just behind him. Unfortunately, Almansa crashed at braking of T1 entering lap 3, and Roulstone had no choice but go wide to avoid the Leopard Racing rider. He dropped to 16th, with everything to do all over again. All that was left to do for the Australian was to put his head down, and focus on maintaining the strong pace he had earlier on, to progressively gain back positions. However, finding yourself at the back of the group is never easy, and the Red Bull KTM Tech3 rider struggled to find his way through the riders ahead. After 10 laps, there was still one big group with all riders still on course, and Jacob was in 14th close behind Dennis Foggia. Suddenly, he moved up to 9th as he followed Foggia who made a strong move to the front 3! Hectic race so far, tough to follow positions constantly changing, but that’s what Moto3™ is all about! The misfortune sadly continued for the young Australian, who could not retain that gain, as he was forced once again to avoid a rider in the middle of the track who had crashed. Back to P17. When 3 laps remained, Jacob led the chasing group in 13th, 6 seconds off the leading group, and all he could do was to try winning that group. Task complete, and that’s P13 for Jacob Roulstone at the checkered flag, a result he will be disappointed with knowing he had a strong pace. Unfortunately, he had to face racing incidents which could not be avoided, and we have to be happy to take those 3 points for the championship. Luckily, we already have a new race week ahead of us to make things up, as the Red Bull KTM Tech3 Moto3™ squad will now head to the Cathedral of Speed, the TT Assen, for the Motul Grand Prix of the Netherlands, on June 27-28-29!
VALENTIN PERRONE: "I am really happy about the race. We knew the race start would be crazy from the back, but we tried to manage it as well as possible, and I gave everything I could, I overtook many riders in the first two laps to catch back the front group. We fought really well all race long, we stayed in the front 3-4, but in the final laps, it became even crazier, with overtakes all over the place and it was so hard for me to manage. Anyway, 8th starting from last is a good position, I think we learned a lot today, so let's bring the positives to the next round in Assen. Thanks to my team for the amazing job they are doing!"
JACOB ROULSTONE: "To be honest, I think I would have more luck winning the lottery than in that race! I got caught up with two incidents which I had to avoid, so I lost a lot of positions. I am very disappointed of course, because I had once again taken a good start and I was up there with the front group in the first laps. Anyway, we have a lot of positives to take away from this weekend, the pace has been there, the confidence is back, so I just need to keep trying. Luckily, we already have another round coming next week in Assen, so I am just already focused on that one, and hopefully we can finally get a strong finish."
HERVE PONCHARAL, Team Principal: "What a remontada from Valentin Perrone! We were disappointed with the back-of-the-grid penalty, but we spent some time talking with him last night, to make him understand that everything is possible in this category. Of course we gave him the names of Brad Binder, Pedro Acosta and Jose Antonio Rueda, so I think it gave him extra motivation for today. Valentin did everything he had to do today, forget about the grid position, and just do a great race, enjoy the ride! He made a fantastic start, gaining positions corner after corner, and quickly he was back with the leading group. He has even been leading the race for a moment, but as always the final laps were crazy. Anyone in the top 10 could have been the winner. He found himself in the wrong place at the wrong moment at some point, and he finished 8th. It is an amazing result, but it is normal to be a little bit disappointed when you see the race he did. Valentin was with the podium finishers all race long, but we know he has learned a lot today, and he showed that he has the pace to be a race winner. Huge congratulations for his race! We were confident that Jacob Roulstone could have a strong race, but unfortunately things have not gone the way he wanted. He could not stay in the leading group despite a good start. Still, he gave everything he had, and he still managed to finish in 13th with some points. It is not the result he wanted, but we already have a new race week coming in Assen. He has the speed, he is pushing hard, the good results will be coming sooner than later, so let's focus on that! Thank you to the team for a great weekend in Mugello!"
RACE RESULTS
1. Maximo Quiles (SPA), CFMOTO Valresa Aspar Team, 33'17.697
2. Alvaro Carpe (SPA), Red Bull KTM Ajo, +0.006
3. Dennis Foggia (ITA), CFMOTO Valresa Aspar Team, +0.066
8. Valentin Perrone (ARG), Red Bull KTM Tech3, +0.448
13. Jacob Roulstone (AUS), Red Bull KTM Tech3, +10.469
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
1. Jose Antonio Rueda (SPA), Red Bull KTM Ajo, 162pts
2. Angel Piqueras (SPA), FRINSA - MT Helmets - MSI, 106pts
3. Alvaro Carpe (SPA), Red Bull KTM Ajo, 105 pts
14. Valentin Perrone (ARG), Red Bull KTM Tech3, 35pts
20. Jacob Roulstone (AUS), Red Bull KTM Tech3, 20pts
TRACK RECORDS
All Time Record: 2024 - D. Alonso (COL) - 1'53.926 - 165.7 km/h
Best Race Lap: 2024 - C. Veijer (NLD) - 1'54.738 - 164.5 km/h
Best Pole: 2024 - D. Alonso (COL) - 1'54.194 - 165.3 km/h
Top Speed: 2024 D. Alonso (COL) - 251.7 - km/h
