Jose Antonio Rueda finishes in second position for his first podium of the year, with Vicente Perez fourteenth.

The Portuguese Grand Prix featured a magnificent Moto3 race at the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve. Jose Antonio Rueda fought for the victory and led for much of the race, crossing the finish line in second place. Vicente Perez moved up the order and finished in the points, in fourteenth place.

Rueda started the PortugueseGP from pole position for the first time in his career. He got off the line well, holding his position in the early stages. The Spaniard remained calm and tried to increase the gap over his rivals in a race where tyre management was vital. After the midway point, Rueda dropped to fourth place, although the Red Bull KTM Ajo rider was able to recover quickly and climb back up to second place. On the closing laps Rueda waited for his moment and, on a heart-stopping last lap, he made a move on the final corner. He was just +0.044s away from achieving his first victory in the class, taking second place. After a great weekend, he is fifth in the overall standings with 20 points.

Perez faced a challenging Sunday at the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve. The Spanish driver started the race from eighteenth position, on the sixth row of the grid. After the initial laps he began to steadily gain places lap-after-lap until reaching the points. However, the lack of a good feeling during the race caused him to fall back again, requiring another push to work his way back up. After 19 intense laps, he came home in fourteenth position and scored points in his second race with the team. He is also fourteenth in the overall standings, with 2 points.

The next event for Red Bull KTM Ajo will be the Grand Prix of the Americas, which will take place from April 12th-14th.

Results Moto3 Race
1. Daniel Holgado (GasGas) 34:09.038
2. Jose Antonio Rueda (Red Bull KTM Ajo) +0.044
3. Ivan Ortola (KTM) +0.820
4. David Alonso (CFMOTO) +2.218
5. Joel Kelso (KTM) +2.246
14. Vicente Perez (Red Bull KTM Ajo) +20.776

Moto3 World Championship Standing 2024
1. Daniel Holgado (GasGas) 45 points
2. David Alonso (CFMOTO) 38 points
3. Ivan Ortola (KTM) 23 points
4. Collin Veijer (Husqvarna) 21 points
5. Jose Antonio Rueda (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 20 points
19. Vicente Perez (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 2 points

Moto3 Teams World Championship Standing 2024
1. Red Bull GasGas Tech3 – 56 points
2. CFMoto Gaviota Aspar Team – 51 points
3. Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP – 33 points
4. BOE Motorsports – 26 points
5. MT Helmets MSI – 23 points
6. Red Bull KTM Ajo – 22 points

Aki Ajo – Team Manager:
“Of course, it was a great performance from Jose Antonio here in Portimao, and also during the whole winter and at the first race in Qatar as well. I’m really happy with the result, as we have really taken a step forward since last year. What I especially like is the mental step forward that Jose Antonio has taken. But in any case, it is time to gain more experience in the races and the hectic Moto3 class. We are ready for a long season and to fight for the top spots in the series. Vicente’s weekend was good as well; for sure the race was maybe not what expected and we need to analyse what happened during the race -especially at the end. He was struggling with the tyres and the performance was not the same. In any case, it’s been a good job by Vicente in the first two races of the season, considering that he didn’t really have testing time. A big thanks to him for the good work and we wish him good luck for the future.”

#99 JOSE ANTONIO RUEDA

“I felt very good on the last sector, especially on the last corner. At the beginning I pushed to make the leading group as small as possible. On the last lap it was so difficult to manage the tyres, because I struggled a lot; also it was difficult to find a good line to overtake the riders in front of me. I tried to make my move in the last sector on the last lap, but I need more experience to manage situations at the front on the closing laps. Overall, I am very happy. I want to thank my team; we have worked a lot to be here. It’s our first podium of the year in the second race, so I’m really happy. Thank you to everybody.”

#21 VICENTE PEREZ

“It was a difficult race, since I didn’t have a good feeling. I started well and I was able to overtake quite a few riders at the start, but I think we had a tyre problem -we had a defective tyre. That prevented me from having a good race, because the front was stepping out a lot and I was almost crashing at every corner. I was able to climb up to 14th place. I had contact with another rider and from there I was not able to improve my position. In the end, I’m not happy because I didn’t have the best feeling, but let’s see how things go next time. Thank you to the team and to Aki for the opportunity, and to all the professionals, my fitness coach and my manager for helping me with everything.”