The Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto3 riders will occupy the third row on raceday at Red Bull Ring

Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto3 riders Alvaro Carpe and Jose Antonio Rueda competed amongst themselves on Saturday at the Austrian Grand Prix, securing seventh and eighth positions, respectively. At the home track for their team and KTM, both will be looking to score as many points as possible on Sunday.

Track conditions were ideal from the early morning, with temperatures on the asphalt of 25ºC for Free Practice 2.

Rueda was competitive throughout the session, placing in the Top 6 from the start and showing a good race pace. However, despite a combination of solo riding and following a slipstream, the Moto3 World Championship leader was unable to get close to the fastest riders in the session over a single lap. He had to settle for a 1:40.242, 6 tenths off the best time. It was, however, his best time of the weekend and less than a tenth off his best time ever at the Red Bull Ring. Carpe tried to take a step forward up until the final minutes of the session. The class’ top rookie was out of the Top 15 for virtually the entire FP2, although a pair of consecutive fastest laps catapulted him up to ninth place. He put in 17 laps -one fewer than his teammate-, the best of which was a 1:40.343.

In the afternoon, temperatures had risen to 39°C temperatures, making Q2 a hotter challenge for the riders.

Carpe initially struggled, and was 14th when he returned to the pits. He then worked alongside his teammate and the two Red Bull KTM Tech 3 riders, to improve together. After two initial laps slightly upping his pace, Carpe put down his final flying lap of 1:40.353, ousting Rueda from seventh. It was within 0.010s of his morning time. He completed a total of 8 laps. Rueda followed the same pattern and remained in 11th place before pitting, with a time 4 tenths slower than his morning best. After changing tyres, he went out again, and lowered his quickest time from the session to 1:40.401. Carpe’s improvement after the chequered flag knocked him down a spot, but left him in eighth and the Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto3 riders will line up together on the third row of the grid.

In conclusion, good Saturday for the two Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto3 riders, who secured a spot among the first three rows on a track where the first corner can always cause complex situations on the first lap. After two days of progress at the Red Bull Ring, tomorrow they will try to bring a good result to the KTM family and all the Austrian fans. Sunday’s 20-lap Moto3 race gets underway at 11am local time.

Qualifying Results
1. Valentin Perrone (KTM) | 1:39.938
2. Angel Piqueras (KTM) | 1:39.984 (+0.046)
3. Ryusei Yamanaka (KTM) | 1:40.084 (+0.146)
4. Dennis Foggia (KTM) | 1:40.090 (+0.152)
5. Maximo Quiles (KTM) | 1:40.117 (+0.179)
7. Alvaro Carpe (Red Bull KTM Ajo) | 1:40.353 (+0.415)
8. Jose Antonio Rueda (Red Bull KTM Ajo) | 1:40.401 (+0.463)

#99 JOSE ANTONIO RUEDA

“Saturday ended up being a better day than yesterday. We changed a few things with the setup and were able to take a step forward. I think we’ve overcome the biggest problem we had on Friday, so we just need to fine-tune a few details to be where we want to be tomorrow. We have the tools to have a good race, so we’re going to give everything we have to achieve a top result here. It will be a tough Sunday, but we’ll give it our all to fight at the front, where I don’t think the group will be very large this time around.”

#83 ALVARO CARPE

“This second day at the Red Bull Ring was much better than Friday. We were able to take a step forward with the bike setup, and I also felt more comfortable overall. Still, this isn’t the end of the weekend, so we have to focus on making another leap forward for tomorrow’s race. We don’t have to make many changes right now, but we need to fine-tune some details to be fully ready. Tomorrow we’ll go out to enjoy ourselves and give our best to achieve a great result, at a track which is always special for the team.”