The Red Bull KTM Tech3 Moto3™ team kicked off their Grand Prix of Malaysia campaign on Friday morning, at the Sepang International Grand Prix, hosting the final round of the fly away races of 2025. From the windy and chilly conditions of Phillip Island to the hot and humid Malaysia, a very different race week awaited both Jacob Roulstone and Valentin Perrone, both eager to finish the Asian tour on a high before heading home after five weeks away.
Grand Prix of Malaysia
Jacob Roulstone arrived in Malaysia with good confidence from his home round in Australia. Despite crashing out early into the race, the Australian had managed to make 3 unbelievable laps as he crashed while in provisional P3. Hungry for more, the number 12 was eager to show his potential this week. And everything started well for Jacob, as he was second fastest of FP1 this morning with a best lap in 2'11.031, just 0.052 seconds off early pace setter Angel Piqueras. Practice was forced to start with a 35 minute-delay early afternoon in Sepang, due to some oil spillage on the track, but when the action resumed, Jacob was all pumped for it. If he sat outside of the top 15 for the first half, an improvement at the start of run 2 saw him fly to provisional 4th with a great 2'11.512, but unfortunately, the young Australian crashed shortly after at turn 4, with less than 5 minutes to go. He could not rejoin the action on track, but luckily his lap was good enough to qualify to Q2, with the 8th time. Target of the day achieved!
Australia was a rather tough one for rookie Valentin Perrone, but these tricky weekends are all part of the learning. The young ‘Coyote’ was excited to arrive in Malaysia, a place where he spent the pre-season training. He rode all FP1 this morning without changing his tires, and he managed to take the 15th time just 1 second from Piqueras, an encouraging pace heading to the afternoon’s Practice. As PR began, Valentin picked a group which helped him learn fast, and he could clock in a brilliant 2'12.816, one that had him in a provisional 2nd place with just ten minutes left on the clock. For the second run, the young Perrone found a way to gain a bit more, to a 2'12.335, shortly before he commited a small mistake as he crashed at T4, less than 2 minutes to the end. With all his rivals improving, Valentin finished the session in P22, and he will face Q1 on Saturday. The Moto3™ action will resume at 8:40 local time (UTC+8), and qualifying will begin at 12:50!
JACOB ROULSTONE: "A decent first day here for us! I am really pleased with this morning's session, I think that we planned it to perfection. This afternoon, we kept calm, I tried to run my own little business, and it paid off quite well. I had an unfortunate crash at the end, but I am all ok! Rest and recovery for me on the menu tonight!"
VALENTIN PERRONE: "We felt pretty comfortable in FP1 this morning, without changing the tires, so it was really positive for us. In Practice, I tried to go out with a group, I made a good lap at the start, and then I tried to improve a bit more. In the second run, I made a mistake because I cut the lap as I was improving. I thought that I could have a better pace, but unfortunately I crashed. We are out of Q2 because I made a big mistake, so this is on me, but we will learn from this, and try to go to Q2 tomorrow!"
PRACTICE SESSION RESULTS
1. Jose Antonio Rueda (SPA), Red Bull KTM Ajo, 2'11.152
2. Alvaro Carpe (SPA), Red Bull KTM Ajo, +0.035
3. Brian Uriarte (SPA), Dynavolt IntactGP, +0.050
8. Jacob Roulstone (AUS), Red Bull KTM Tech3, +0.360
22. Valentin Perrone (ARG), Red Bull KTM Tech3, +1.183
TRACK RECORDS
All Time Record: 2024 - A. Fernandez (SPA) - 2'09.542 - 154.0 km/h
Best Race Lap: 2024 - D. Alonso (COL) - 2'11.047 - 152.2 km/h
Best Pole: 2024 - A. Fernandez (SPA) - 2'09.542 - 154.0 km/h
Top Speed: 2024 - R. Yamanaka (JPN) - 235.2 km/h
