The Red Bull KTM Ajo rider faces his third season on the team with optimism and confidence to fight for the top positions.

After a good preseason and clocking the fastest time at the Jerez Test, Jose Antonio Rueda is optimistic about the 2025 season. The Spanish rider has confidence in his team and enough experience to be competitive during all rounds, as he explains in an interview before the campaign gets underway in Thailand this weekend.

This is going to be your third season in Moto3. In the first you got your first podium, and last year you got your first pole and first victory. What do you expect from this year?

I hope to have a good 2025. The goal is to be consistent throughout the year, which is what we found hardest last year, and to always try to fight at the front. We have more experience at some of the newer circuits for us, which was also what my biggest struggle in previous years was, so the main thing is to be able to be competitive at every Grand Prix and enjoy the season to the fullest. Then we’ll see what happens.

How are you different from the rider who joined the World Championship in 2023?

In every way. Now I have much more experience and know first-hand how the World Championship works. The acclimatisation that you have to do once you get here is different from when you go to other championships, since you have less time to adapt and everyone is much faster from the beginning, so experience becomes very important as time goes by.

How important are the team for you?

Red Bull KTM Ajo are very important to me. They gave me the opportunity to make the jump to the World Championship two years ago and I have spent the first few years in the series with them. I will always be grateful for the trust they have placed in me, and it is also a stroke of luck for me, as they are one of the big teams, for whom you dream of being, so I’m very happy to continue working with them.

 

“I will always be grateful for the trust they have placed in me, and it is also a stroke of luck for me, as they are one of the big teams, for whom you dream of being.”

What is your assessment of the preseason?

It has been a short but very useful winter. I have been travelling a lot to Barcelona to train and also to Austria to prepare at the APC, the Red Bull High Performance Centre. I think that, in general, preseason was good, as I improved a lot, especially in terms of fitness. So we are more than ready to get started in Thailand.

Do you consider yourself one of the men to beat in 2025? How do you handle that extra pressure?

It’s important to be able to handle the pressure. This year I’m one of the most experienced riders on the grid, and experience has to work in our favour. It’s tough, because in the end you are in a World Championship and on one of the best teams, and it is not easy to manage everything that surrounds that, but we are capable of doing it, without a doubt. Now the key is to start the year well, and from there get the confidence to face the rest of the season.

What do you think of the arrival of your new teammate, Alvaro Carpe?

Alvaro is a very good rider. I think that he will do very well this year and that he will also fight to be Rookie of the Year in the class. Given the way the preseason has gone, he looks like he could be one of the very fastest riders on the grid. That, in the end, is something that motivates me a lot, because it helps me to be more competitive in every session.

In what aspects do you think you can be different from your rivals?

On my work by myself. At the Jerez test we worked a lot on riding alone and that is important to not depend on anyone. Moto3 races are usually very different since the group is always difficult to break up, and you can’t push hard at the front, but it’s also crucial to be competitive when you’re working alone, and I think that this year we have prepared well in that sense. There are always many factors that are not down to us, but with those that are, we try to have as much control as possible.

The first round of the 2025 season will take place this weekend at the Chang International Circuit in Thailand (February 28th-March 2nd).