Valentín Perrone underscored his impressive raw pace in the sixth round of the 2026 Moto3™ World Championship around the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya this weekend, speeding to his first pole position of the campaign for Red Bull KTM Tech3 prior to getting caught up in a dogfight in the race.
Grand Prix of Catalunya
The Argentine was the star of the show on Saturday but endured a frustrating race on Sunday as he got drawn into a multi-bike battle that left him a disappointed 12th, albeit adding four more points to his championship tally.
Aboard the sister RC250GP, Rico Salmela made a bright start to the 18-lap contest to gain some early ground, but the combination of long lap penalty for a Practice infringement and a technical issue ultimately restricted the Moto3 rookie to 17th.
Practice
The weekend began in unseasonably cool temperatures in FP1 on Friday morning. Salmela blasted out-of-the-blocks on fine form as he clocked the fourth-fastest time in the high-calibre, 26-strong field, while team-mate Perrone was 16th after running without the benefit of the tow.
In the afternoon’s timed Practice, Perrone and Salmela produced a pacy performance to secure fifth and 12th positions, respectively, seeing them both successfully bypass Q1 for the fourth time this season.
Qualifying
Saturday morning’s 30-minute FP2 session allowed the Tech3 duo to complete their final on-track preparations for Qualifying, with Salmela improving his times throughout on his way to 11th place. Perrone initially featured up at the sharp end, but suffered a fall entering the final ten minutes – thankfully without injury.
Both riders took to the circuit early on in Q2, putting in ‘banker’ laps to slot comfortably into the top ten prior to returning to the pits for set-up tweaks. As others subsequently went quicker, the pair fell down the order before rejoining the fray for one final push.
With only time for a single flying effort, the pressure was on but Perrone responded magnificently, bouncing back in style to vault from 14th position up to first - securing his first pole position of the year and the third of his Moto3 career, on the same day that Tech3 announced a multi-year extension to its partnership with KTM. In a closely-contested session, Salmela was obliged to settle for 15th.
Race
Perrone lost out on the long run to Turn One at the start, dropping to sixth. Immediately responding, the 18-year-old regained two places as he set his sights on the leading trio but found himself dragged into a series of duels that ultimately caused him to lose touch with the front pack - around a circuit where staying in the slipstream is critical.
After falling as low as 18th, Perrone dug deep in what was a fast and frantic Moto3 Grand Prix to battle back to 12th at the flag, salvaging some points from a frustrating race that had promised much more.
Salmela initially rose to 12th on his KTM RC250GP, before serving his long lap penalty - due to having slowed on the racing line towards the end of Practice - which relegated the young Finn to 20th. From there, he scythed his way back up to 14th entering the closing stages, only for a gearshift problem to limit him to 17th at the finish line, just 0.269s behind Perrone and barely a tenth-of-a-second shy of the points.
Next up for Red Bull KTM Tech3 will be the Grand Prix of Italy at Tuscany’s Autodromo Internazionale del Mugello on 29-31 May, where the team will arrive sitting fifth in the standings.
Valentin Perrone: "I felt strong in Qualifying and I was optimistic we could fight for pole, so I was really happy to get it, but the race was really complicated. We made a mistake on tyre choice; I had tried the soft rear compound in FP2, but I didn’t feel super-comfortable and wasn’t sure it would last the full 18 laps. Based on that, we decided to run the medium in the race, but we didn’t have much information on it and after making a bad start, I got stuck in the middle of the pack.
“The front guys were super-fast and it was impossible to follow them; I was struggling a lot and was really on the limit – even when I managed to recover some positions, I never really felt confident. The bike was quite unpredictable, I had a few scares when pushing and I just couldn’t find the flow or rhythm I usually have. We need to understand what went wrong and take the positives from the weekend. We’ve shown good pace before, so the potential is clearly there and we will learn from this, keep fighting and come back stronger.”
Rico Salmela: "The feeling was really good in the race. I had a good start and first lap; we had some contact in sector two, but I was able to catch the guys ahead early on and do some overtaking. I did my long lap and then caught the group again. After a few laps, the front tyre began to drop off so I had to change my riding style quite a bit to manage that, and then we had the problem. Something broke in the gearbox – from third to fourth and fourth to fifth, the gears didn’t change. I lost a lot of time every lap fighting against this, which made things super-difficult. Despite that, I was still able to pull off some passes, but in the end, it caused us to drop back. The good thing is that the pace was there and I think without the issue, we could have been battling in the front group, which is encouraging. Going to Mugello, we are hungrier than ever!"
QUALIFYING RESULTS
1. Valentín Perrone (ARG), Red Bull KTM Tech3, 1'46.679
2. David Muñoz (SPA), Liqui Moly Dynavolt Inteact GP, +0.005
3. Brian Uriarte (SPA), Red Bull KTM Ajo, +0.019
15. Rico Salmela (FIN), Red Bull KTM Tech3, +0.677
RACE RESULTS
1. Maximo Quiles (SPA), CFMOTO Gaviota Aspar Team, 32'28.964
2. Álvaro Carpe (SPA), Red Bull KTM Ajo, +0.094
3. David Muñoz (SPA), Liqui Moly Dynavolt Inteact GP, +0.098
12. Valentín Perrone (ARG), Red Bull KTM Tech3, +9'805
17. Rico Salmela (FIN), Red Bull KTM Tech3, +10'074
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
1. Maximo Quiles (SPA), CFMOTO Gaviota Aspar Team, 140 pts
2. Adrián Fernández (SPA), Leopard Racing, 76 pts
3. Álvaro Carpe (SPA), Red Bull KTM Ajo, 73 pts
6. Valentín Perrone (ARG), Red Bull KTM Tech3, 56 pts
16. Rico Salmela (FIN), Red Bull KTM Tech3, 21 pts
TRACK RECORDS
All Time Record: 2024 - D. Alonso (SPA) - 1'45.905 - 158.3 km/h
Best Race Lap: 2024 - J. Rueda (SPA) - 1'46.748 - 157.0 km/h
Best Pole: 2024 - D. Alonso (SPA) - 1'45.905 - 158.3 km/h
Top Speed: 2023 - D. Holgado (SPA) - 255.9 - km/h
