Alvaro Carpe and Brian Uriarte make the most of their final on-track appointment of 2025.

Red Bull KTM Ajo concluded their best season ever with two highly productive days of testing at the Circuito de Jerez-Angel Nieto. Both Alvaro Carpe and Brian Uriarte gathered valuable information for the 2026 season, before heading off for the winter break.

Carpe, who finished fourth in the 2025 Moto3 World Championship, completed a total of 82 laps on Monday, achieving the third fastest time. Throughout the day, he completed ten runs, tailoring their duration to the objectives for the session. After making the necessary adjustments to the respective setups, the Spanish rider showed great consistency with regular series of laps in the 1:46s, and left two Time Attack runs until the end to test his outright pace. Although the track was much colder than usual -especially compared to the Spanish Grand Prix held in the last week of April- he was able to clock a 1:45.493 on his 78th lap, signing off the year with a positive impression.

Uriarte had the opportunity to ride on both days, making the most of his rookie allowance. During the first day, he put in a total of 64 laps, focusing primarily on adapting to his new engineer and the rest of the team -with whom he has only competed in two Grands Prix to date (in Portugal and Valencia). With many setups still to test and understand, he was the seventh fastest Moto3 rider, with a best time of 1:46.304.

On Tuesday, the weather conditions forced a reduction in testing time, as they didn’t start taking to the track until after midday. Uriarte, not wanting to take any risks, waited a little longer still, to ensure the track was completely dry. From then on, and with the weather hotter than on Monday, he continued working on the same setup as the previous day. In the final part of the day, just as both riders did on Monday, Brian gave way to several Time Attacks, as well as two practice starts to close out the year. That’s when he achieved his best lap of the two days, reaching 1:45.562. In total, he completed 53 laps, adding up to 107 between both days.

The team will have a break until the next Winter Test, which will take place in Portimão on February 12th and 13th. The final preseason test follows that same week, at Jerez, during the weekend of February 17th and 18th. The 2026 season gets underway in Thailand on the last weekend of February.

TEST RESULTS
Day 1
– Alvaro Carpe (Red Bull KTM Ajo) | 1:45.493 | 82 laps
– Brian Uriarte (Red Bull KTM Ajo | 1:46.304 | 64 laps 

Day 2 
– Brian Uriarte (Red Bull KTM Ajo | 1:45.462 | 53 laps

NIKLAS AJO – Team Manager

“With Alvaro, we were mainly focused on trying to get him used to his new Crew Chief, because getting that right is very important from the beginning. This test was very useful for us in this aspect. On the technical side, there weren’t so many things to try, but I think the feeling was positive in general. The conditions were not the easiest on Monday for him, but it was a very good first step of the 2026 season. In Brian’s case, I would say in the end that it was a positive test for him. We did a lot of laps on both days, trying a lot of things, because the most important thing is that he adapts as quickly as possible to his new bike. We know this will take some time, but I feel today we made very good progress -especially on the last stint, where he put in good lap times alone and set a good pace. There’s a lot of potential here, so we need to work a lot to show it during the next year.”

#83 ALVARO CARPE

“We’re very happy to have finished the year so well. The wind was a bit of a nuisance, especially for the Moto3 bikes, but I think we made the most of the day. It was also an important day as it was our first time working with my new technician; the feeling was positive, so we’re satisfied and have a good feeling about everything that’s to come in 2026. We rode on our own to focus on our pace, and I think we’re making solid progress in this area, which is vital to really establish ourselves in the class. Now it’s time to rest and come back with renewed energy, because we want to start strong from the beginning of next year.”

#51 BRIAN URIARTE

“I’m satisfied with all the work that we’ve done over the two days. In total, we completed 107 laps, and each time we went out on track, we took a step forward. Without a doubt, the test was positive, as we tried countless things that I needed to understand with both the bike and the team. Adapting to the new Moto3 bike isn’t easy, but I think we’re on the right track. In this sense, I’m heading into the winter break feeling confident, as we have a good base and know where to start to take further steps forward in the first part of 2026, which will be key to us having a competitive year.”