Jose Antonio Rueda and Alvaro Carpe will start 8th and 13th at the French Grand Prix.

Saturday’s action at the French Grand Prix leaves Jose Antonio Rueda and Alvaro Carpe in eighth and thirteenth positions on the grid for Sunday’s race. Despite it being one of the toughest Qualifying’s of the season for the Red Bull KTM Ajo team, both riders are confident for the crucial moment of the weekend. Jose Antonio Rueda feels comfortable in terms of his race pace, and Alvaro Carpe also demonstrated plenty of speed, even breaking the previous track record at the French track in the morning’s FP2 session.

Although the track temperature for FP2 was very similar to Friday’s FP1, the morning sun at Le Mans reduced the humidity on the asphalt significantly, and the Moto3 riders were able to put in much faster laps. Rueda was the first to demonstrate this, becoming the first to break the 1:40 mark this weekend. After leading the first part of the session, the Moto3 World Championship leader focused on making a long run to prepare for the race. He set his best time of 1:40.602 on his sixth lap of a total of 18, without the need for a Time Attack, and placed seventh.

Carpe had a somewhat different session to his teammate. Initially, he focused on making a longer run with an eye on Sunday, but in the final minutes, he decided to use new tyres to push harder. The Red Bull KTM Ajo rookie posted his fastest time on his 13th lap of a total of 15, with a 1:40.085 which placed him third, just 2 tenths off the top spot. He not only lowered his best time from Friday by 6 tenths, but also managed to go quicker than the previous Moto3 track record at Le Mans.

In Qualifying, the asphalt was at its highest temperatures of the weekend so far. Rueda got off to a strong start, but failed to complete a perfect lap in the crucial minutes of the session, dropping him to eighth place by the time the chequered flag fell. He completed eight laps, with the fastest a 1:40.477 -his best time of the weekend and just a few thousandths of a second away from his all-time top lap at Le Mans. Carpe had a more difficult time, finishing his first runout with no hot lap recorded, after exceeding the track limits on his only real attempt. After a trip to the pits, another yellow flag left him with no chance of setting a solid time. That forced him to push on his final opportunity, in which he clocked a 1:40.669, slightly off his FP2 time. After eight laps completed, Carpe qualified 13th for the race.

The two Red Bull KTM Ajo riders will try to bring home as many points as possible from the third and fifth rows of the grid, in the 20-lap Moto3 French Grand Prix that will start at 11:00 a.m. (local time) on Sunday.

Qualifying Results
1. Maximo Quiles (KTM) | 1:39.947
2. Guido Pini (KTM) | 1:40.036 (+0.089)
3. Joel Kelso (KTM) | 1:40.045 (+0.098)
4. Angel Piqueras (KTM) | 1:40.149 (+0.202)
5. Adrian Fernandez (Honda) | 1:40.351 (+0.404)
8. Jose Antonio Rueda (Red Bull KTM Ajo) | 1:40.477 (+0.530)
13. Alvaro Carpe (Red Bull KTM Ajo) | 1:40.669 (+0.722)

#99 JOSE ANTONIO RUEDA

“Today we took a step forward, although I would have liked to have been a little closer in terms of our grid position. The important thing is that we’re comfortable with the bike and have the speed to fight in the race, so we’re going to work to find something extra and be even better prepared for tomorrow. We also have to see how the weather turns out, but whether the conditions are dry or wet, we’ll have to give it our all to fight for the top positions.”

#83 ALVARO CARPE

“This morning I felt very comfortable on used tyres, but we couldn’t set a hot lap on fresh rubber. The strategy we were looking to use in Q2 with my teammate didn’t work out, but we’re happy because the work is good and we’ve made progress compared to yesterday. I think tomorrow could be a good day if the conditions are right for us. It looks like it’s going to rain, so we have to stay calm, stick to our plan, and fight as hard as we can in the race, which is sure to be entertaining.”