Alvaro Carpe and Brian Uriarte make a successful start to the United States Grand Prix, to go through to fight for the Pole Position tomorrow.

Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto3 began the United States Grand Prix weekend on Friday, with Alvaro Carpe topping FP1 and finishing third in Practice. Teammate Brian Uriarte also made his way directly into Q2 for the third time this season.

After two Grands Prix with somewhat uncertain weather conditions, Moto3 Free Practice 1 in Austin provided more stable circumstances, with a track temperature of 24°C and 74% humidity to begin the morning.

Carpe showed good progress throughout the session, managing to establish himself among the Top 5 early on and remaining there until the final stages. After a pit stop, he was able to lower his time by almost a second, going on to put in a 2:14.209 which propelled him to the top spot. His lap was quicker than last season’s Pole Position time and 2 tenths quicker than his own best time from 2025, which he set in the race. Carpe rode a total of 13 laps.

Uriarte showed gradual adaptation to COTA, starting out in the Top 15, although more than 1.5 seconds off the pace. As the laps progressed, he took a solid step forward, moving up to ninth. He completed the session in 14th, putting in 16 laps as the rider with the most track time in the morning. The Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto3 rider’s best time was a 2:15.856, achieved halfway through FP1.

Practice saw track temperatures of 42°C and even more favourable conditions for the Moto3 riders, who have enabled a new all-time track record in the class.

Carpe had a series of early laps ruled out, either for yellow flags or his exceeding the track limits. It took the Spaniard more than ten minutes to set his first time of the session, climbing from 28th to 11th before returning to the pits. He went out for the Time Attack alongside his teammate, managing to briefly climb to sixth place. As his rivals made the most of the track conditions, Carpe responded with a series of laps to rise from 13th to third place, setting a 2:14.202 to shave 0.007 tenths off his time from FP1. He put in a total of 11 laps during the afternoon session.

Uriarte also rode 11 laps, and had several laps of his own scrubbed. This, combined with some challenging close calls at the tricky Turn 9, left him in 22nd position after his first run. Working closely with Carpe for his second stint, he made his way up to fourth, although the final minutes of the session saw many changes on the timesheets. With no opportunity to improve further on his closing attempts, he had to settle for 13th place with his 2:14.660 lap -more than a second faster than in the morning. Uriarte thus secured his third consecutive place in Q2 this season.

All in all, it was a productive Friday for Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto3 riders in Texas. Both Alvaro Carpe and Brian Uriarte made good progress during the two sessions and comfortably qualified for Q2, meaning they can now focus on Saturday’s qualifying session, which will take place from 1:10 p.m. (local time). Before that, in the morning, the two riders will participate in Free Practice 2 at 8:40 a.m.

Practice Results
1. Maximo Quiles (KTM) | 2:13.757
2. Guido Pini (Honda) | 2:13.929 (+0.172)
3. Alvaro Carpe (Red Bull KTM Ajo) | 2:14.202 (+0.445)
4. Matteo Bertelle (KTM) | 2:14.293 (+0.536)
5. Valentin Perrone (KTM) | 2:14.309 (+0.552)
13. Brian Uriarte (Red Bull KTM Ajo) | 2:14.417 (+0.660)

#83 ALVARO CARPE

“I felt much better than last Friday. From the start, I felt fast, especially on the second run in FP1, where we improved quite a bit. Practice was a little more challenging, but we know what we need to tweak on the bike to be more comfortable tomorrow, so I’m confident we’ll take another step forward once we’ve fine-tuned these small details. Overall, I’m happy to have started with a much more positive feeling than we had in Brazil a week ago.”

#51 BRIAN URIARTE

“The day went well. The circuit is very long, so it’s easy to make a mistake anywhere on the track. We’ve done well from the beginning and stayed close to the fastest riders, so I’m happy with that as a starting point. Now we need to keep working to take another step forward tomorrow and qualify as high up the grid as possible. Sunday will be a tough race, so we have to try to prepare as well as possible in every detail.”