The Red Bull Rookies Cup and JuniorGP 2025 Champion will replace Jose Antonio Rueda for the final two races of the season, teaming up with Alvaro Carpe.

Brian Uriarte will stand in for Jose Antonio Rueda for the two remaining races of the 2025 Moto3 World Champion. The 2025 Red Bull Rookies Cup and JuniorGP Champion will join Alvaro Carpe at the rounds in Portugal and Valencia, with Rueda injured after an incident involving Noah Dettwiler during the Sighting Lap at the Malaysian Grand Prix. The Portuguese Grand Prix will be a preview of sorts for next season, when Uriarte and Carpe will be full-time teammates at Red Bull KTM Ajo. All in all, both will try to achieve two good results to dedicate to Rueda, who is still recovering from the recent injury in Sepang.

Carpe faces the Portuguese Grand Prix with morale high after a solid performance in Malaysia, where he finished sixth in a very demanding race. He has now practically ensured his status as second best rookie of the year, and has shown remarkable improvement in recent rounds amongst the leading riders in the class. At Portimão, a circuit he knows well from his time in the FIM JuniorGP series, he will look to take another step forward and fight for a podium finish. In this category, he has competed in four races there, with one victory, one second-place finish, and two other Top 5 results, in addition to another second-place and one Top 6 in his first year as a Red Bull Rookies Cup rider. Actually, Carpe is sixth in the Moto3 World Championship overall standings with 183 points, tied with the rider in fifth place.

On the other seat of the box, Uriarte arrives in Portugal with the goal of continuing to learn in preparation for 2026. After debuting in Grand Prix racing in Australia and Malaysia last month, the Spanish rider will now have his first experience with Red Bull KTM Ajo to start his preparation for 2026. He will do so in Portugal, a track where he already knows how to perform well: he has one victory and two other podium finishes between the 2021 and 2022 seasons in the European Talent Cup. About his recent career, Brian has shown considerable potential in feeder series for the World Championship. He finished third in the European Talent Cup in 2023, whilst he was runner-up in the Red Bull Rookies Cup in 2024 and won the competition this season. A double champion in 2025, he became JuniorGP winner just a few days ago at the Circuit de  Barcelona-Catalunya, something that Rueda and Carpe previously achieved in 2022 and 2024, respectively.

Already crowned champions of the Team competition in 2025, Red Bull KTM Ajo have 548 points this season, along with 10 victories and 18 podium finishes so far. They now want to surpass the Teams World Champion points tally from all the previous campaigns. At Portimão, they have three victories and two other podium finishes from only six visits, with wins for Raul Fernandez (2020) and Pedro Acosta (twice in 2021) and second places for Jaume Masia (2022) and Jose Antonio Rueda (2024).

In conclusion, the Portuguese Grand Prix will host the penultimate round of the 2025 season this weekend, back in Europe after the overseas rounds, which have lasted for more than a month and a half. The Moto3 riders will kick off the weekend this Friday at 9:00 a.m. (local time) with Free Practice 1. Sunday’s race 19-lap Moto3 race will take place at 2:3 p.m.

Circuit information – Autódromo Internacional do Algarve 
Length: 4.6km / 2.85 miles
Width: 18 m / 59.06 ft.
Left corners: 6
Right corners: 9
Longest straight: 970 m / 0.60 miles
Built: 2008

#83 ALVARO CARPE

“I’m really looking forward to racing in Portugal, as it’s a circuit I like quite a lot and definitely one of my favourites of the season. Last year, in JuniorGP, I achieved a great result there, ultimately clinching the title, so it also brings back great memories. We’re working very well with the team and we’re convinced we can achieve great things together, so it will be very important to finish the last two races well, in order to be able to face 2026 with a lot of motivation and confidence. My thoughts are with Jose Antonio and Noah now that they’re out of danger, and I also want to race for them and dedicate a good result to both of them.”

#51 BRIAN URIARTE

“First of all, I want to send my best wishes to Jose Antonio. I hope he has a speedy recovery. I also want to thank Aki Ajo and the entire Red Bull KTM Ajo team for the opportunity, even though the circumstances obviously aren’t ideal, coming due to another rider’s injury. I’m very happy to be starting this new adventure and really looking forward to starting to work with my team, so I’ll try to make the most of these next two Grands Prix to begin preparing for 2026 in the best possible way. We’ll give it our all and try to enjoy ourselves and learn from my teammate Alvaro and from the rest of the riders. It will be a long learning process, but I’m sure it will be useful for preseason and next year.”