Valentín Perrone capped a brilliant weekend at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli by finishing fifth after qualifying fourth on Saturday and showing strong speed all weekend long.
Grand Prix of San Marino And The Rimini Riviera
Even at one of his less favoured tracks, Rico Salmela was consistently fast from Friday, qualifying eighth before finishing sixth, just behind his team-mate in Sunday’s race.
Practice
Keen to kick on from a strong showing at Aragon, Perrone started the weekend at one of his favourite tracks strongly by setting the sixth fastest time in Friday’s Practice session. Still working on starting weekends in a stronger way, team-mate Salmela was also fast out of the blocks and finished the first day one place ahead in fifth.
Qualifying
Plans to prepare for Sunday’s race in FP2 were somewhat disrupted by early morning rain, which left the track wet for FP2. Conditions were much improved for qualifying, however, with the track fully dry and temperatures hitting 26 degrees.
It was another strong session for Perrone, whose fastest time came on the fourth lap of an eight-lap run. That was initially enough for a place on the inside of the front row, but the 18-year old was pushed off at the last-minute. Still, his 1’41.111 was enough for fourth. Frustratingly, the Argentinean had gone faster, but saw the time cancelled due to exceeding track limits. Salmela took 0.4s off his previous best on his final lap to qualify eighth.
Race
Conditions on Sunday were perfect for the 20-lap race with temperatures hitting 24 degrees before the race start. Both front and rear tyre options was open for the Moto3 field, with Perrone and Salmela opting for the medium front and soft rear compounds, believing they could manage them until the chequered flag.
The opening to the race was frenetic with both Red Bull KTM Tech3 team-mates gaining a place on the first lap. David Almansa set a fast pace, which stretched the lead seven apart. Ultimately, he would break clear with Max Quiles and Brian Uriarte, leaving Perrone and Salmela to fight with Joel Kelso and Matteo Bertelle for fourth place.
Perrone’s chances took a hit on lap 16 when a mistake at the final corner dropped him back to seventh. But the Argentinean’s recovery was swift as he climbed back to fifth within two laps. Despite his best efforts, he just missed fourth at the finish line by 0.039. But the 11 points for fifth solidified his sixth place in the championship.
Salmela was just one place behind. The young Finn had work to do after some small mistakes in the early laps, but was quickly in the fight for fourth place. The 18-year old was confident of securing that place, but a final lap mistake at Turn 14 cost him two positions. This was his fifth top six finish of the year.
There is no rest for the team-mates with the Austrian GP kicking off in just five days at the Red Bull Ring, which runs from 18-20 September. Red Bull KTM Tech3 remains fourth in the 2026 Team’s Championship after 14 races.
Valentin Perrone: "Well, it was a difficult race today. The pace was super-fast from the beginning and I didn’t feel so good. There was so much grip on track and I was struggling with my front end feel all race long. I tried to keep the pace of the podium guys but it was impossible. It felt like I was almost crashing in every corner. At the end I tried to lead the second group in the last two laps, and tried to close the lines where I could. But in the second last corner I saved a low-side and lost a position. Anyway, all of this weekend was really good. Just in the race we need to understand how the lead guys have extra pace to make the difference, as I had a really similar pace to them on Friday and Saturday. We’ll keep fighting and learning in Austria and until the end of the season.”
Rico Salmela: "It wasn’t such a bad weekend. We didn’t have so much dry track time on Friday and Saturday but I feel like we made the most out of it. Misano isn’t a track that I like so much but we could still do a decent race. My team did a really great job with the bike. I’m not really happy with the race, as I made some mistakes at the beginning. Then I had a lot of work to do to catch the front group again. I was quite comfortable leading that second group in P4 for a long time. I had a good plan for the last lap. It looked like I was going to make it, but I made a small mistake three corners to the end. This cost me fourth place and I finished sixth instead. I want to say thanks to all the team. We’ll keep on working and try to make one final step so we can see take the chequered flag on the podium."
QUALIFYING RESULTS
1. David Almansa (SPA), Liqui Moly Dynavolt Intact GP, 1'40.612
2. Brian Uriarte (SPA), Red Bull KTM Ajo, +0.217
3. Joel Kelso (AUS), GRYD Racing, +0.397
4. Valentín Perrone (ARG), Red Bull KTM Tech3, +0.499
8. Rico Salmela (FIN), Red Bull KTM Tech3, +0.894
RACE RESULTS
1. Maximo Quiles (SPA), CFMOTO Viel Aspar Team, 33'42.713
2. David Almansa (SPA), Liqui Moly Dynavolt Intact GP, +0.021
3. Brian Uriarte (SPA), Red Bull KTM Ajo, +1.343
5. Valentín Perrone (ARG), Red Bull KTM Tech3 , +12.258
6. Rico Salmela (FIN), Red Bull KTM Tech3, +12.303
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
1. Maximo Quiles (SPA), CFMOTO Viel Aspar Team, 281 pts
2. David Almansa (SPA), Liqui Moly Dynavolt Intact GP, 174 pts
3. Álvaro Carpe (SPA), Red Bull KTM Ajo, 159 pts
6. Valentín Perrone (ARG), Red Bull KTM Tech3, 114 pts
10. Rico Salmela (FIN), Red Bull KTM Tech3, 70 pts
TRACK RECORDS
All Time Record: 2024 - D. Alonso (SPA)- 1'40.184 - 151.8 km/h
Best Race Lap: 2026 - M. Quiles (SPA) - 1'40.366 - 151.5 km/h
Best Pole: 2025 - V. Perrone (ARG)- 1'40.328 - 151.6 km/h
Top Speed: 2026 - D. Gonzales (SPA) - 215.5 km/h
