An eighth podium of the year for the Spanish rider follows a hard-fought race at Sepang. Uriarte finishes ninth and moves closer to becoming Rookie of the Year.

There was a mixed Sunday for Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto3 in Malaysia, as Alvaro Carpe secured his eighth podium of the season by finishing third, while Brian Uriarte had to fight his way back from 12th place to place ninth. The two riders are now tied in the overall standings, with Brian just one point away from achieving the Rookie of the Year award.

In line with the demanding conditions of the previous days, Sunday’s race took place with track temperatures reaching 46ºC and oppressive humidity.

Carpe made a strong start, moving from fifth to third place within a pair of sectors. Confident in his potential, he remained within the Top 4 for the first three laps. With the lead frequently changing hands, the group began to stretch out after the first third of the race, with Carpe remaining among the five riders at the front. The intense battle continued, eventually allowing one rider to break away at the front, leaving four others to fight for second place. The battle for second and third wasn’t decided until the chequered flag; Carpe ultimately took third, marking his eighth podium of the season and his 13th with Red Bull KTM Ajo. He earned 16 points, bringing his total to 205 and putting him level with Uriarte in third place in the overall standings.

It was a difficult start for Uriarte, who had a slight contact with David Almansa at the first corner, causing him to drop from second to third. In the second sector, he was involved in another incident that pushed him back to 12th place. Uriarte experienced an unusual feeling with his bike and made errors while attempting to overtake rivals, further complicating the race. After the first third —by which point the lead group had already taken shape— he had to settle for a spot in the second group, more than 4.5 seconds off the front. As the laps went by, the Spaniard took the lead of this group, spearheading the chase to close the gap to the riders ahead and contend for sixth place. Unfortunately, despite holding that position shortly before the finish -which would have automatically secured him the “Rookie of the Year” award- he was overtaken on the final corners and crossed the line in ninth, leaving him just one point shy of mathematically clinching the honour. Uriarte is joint third in the overall standings with 205 points, 23 points off the runner-up spot.

All in all, it was a positive but a little bit bittersweet Sunday for the Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto3 team. Despite securing its fourteenth podium finish of the season, the team had been hoping for more, particularly from Uriarte side. The team remains second in the team standings with 410 points at the end of the overseas rounds. Next week, before returning to Europe, the Moto3 World Championship heads to Qatar for the 20th round of the season, held at the Lusail International Circuit from November 6–8th.

Race Results
1. Maximo Quiles (KTM) | 33:07.634
2. Veda Pratama (Honda) | (+3.734)
3. Alvaro Carpe (Red Bull KTM Ajo) | (+4.184)
4. Hakim Danish (KTM) | (+4.410)
5. David Almansa (KTM) | (+4.914)
9. Brian Uriarte (Red Bull KTM Ajo) | (+9.650)

Moto3 World Championship Standing 2026
1. Maximo Quiles (KTM) | 376 points
2. David Almansa (KTM) | 228 points
3. Brian Uriarte (Red Bull KTM Ajo) | 205 points
4. Alvaro Carpe (Red Bull KTM Ajo) | 205 points
5. Adrian Fernandez (Honda) | 157 points

Moto3 Teams World Championship Standing 2026
1. CFMOTO Gaviota Aspar Team | 516 points
2. Red Bull KTM Ajo | 410 points
3. Liqui Moly Dynavolt Intact GP| 304 points
4. Leopard Racing | 238 points
5. Red Bull KTM Tech 3 | 210 points

NIKLAS AJO – Team Manager

“Once again, we had a bittersweet Sunday. Alvaro had a great race and great weekend overall. Of course, it’s a pity that he couldn’t challenge for the victory, as the riders were fighting in the group a little bit too much to try for second position, but it was a great job on the last lap to get on the podium again, so very happy about this. On the other hand, after a good weekend, we had a little bit of a disappointing race day with Brian. We all expected a little bit more, but this is part of the process when you’re a rookie, and we have to analyse what happened today to try to avoid it in the future. We’re looking ahead to Qatar.”

#83 ALVARO CARPE

“It was a tough battle today, especially because of the heat. The conditions were different from the rest of the weekend, but we felt very good throughout all three days, and I believe we were capable of more today. You never know, but I felt I had enough in reserve to have gone with Quiles if we other riders hadn’t been hindering each other so much further back. Overall, I’m happy with the result, as we’ve closed the gap in the fight for the runner-up spot. We’ve added another podium to our tally, and now it’s time to look ahead to Qatar, where we’ll have another chance to perform well. We’re on a good run of form, so we just need to keep showing what we can do.”

#51 BRIAN URIARTE

“It was a difficult race, right from the start. On the first lap I was overtaken several times, and after that, fighting my way back up the field proved quite tough. To be honest, I didn’t feel entirely comfortable, largely due to the extreme track conditions. I have to accept the result and aim for more in Qatar. You always have to look for the positives; today, we managed to recover some ground in the second half of the race and secure valuable points for the overall standings. It’s another experience under my belt that I’m sure will help us in the future.”