2025 French Moto3 - Race Results

The Moto3 class were first out on the damp Le Mans track for round six, the French Grand Prix  and it was all change on the last lap as Jose Antonio Rueda took advantage of the fight in front to slip through and pick up consecutive wins. 

The race was declared dry in the build up to lights out, with the rain looking to have cleared for the day, but with wet patches around Museum to navigate.

Jerez race winner Rueda was only eighth in Q2, so had work to do in the race. Unable to recreate his dominance at the front from Jerez, the Red Bull KTM Ajo rider showed a different skillset, quickly rising through the pack and into the lead quartet.

A first piece of fortune came when his closest title rival, Angel Piqueras slipped back after an error, pushing hard to re-join the frontrunners, he fell at turn ten at the half way mark.

The race had been lead from race one until the final corner by Joel Kelso, with David Munoz in behind, waiting to pounce - Rueda was sensibly placed just behind heading into the final corner, where Raccordement was the scene of some last lap drama.

Munoz was ready to pounce and forced his way up a gap up the inside, sending both himself and Kelso wide - leaving the door open for Rueda.

The Spaniard took advantage of his luck and crossed the line first for his fourth win of the season aboard the KTM.
 

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Liqui Moly Dynavolt Intact GP rider Munoz recovered quickly from the incident to finish second but was demoted a place for his actions by race direction, still collecting hos first podium of the season in third.

Kelso had proven his one lap pace, setting a new lap record over the course of the weekend. In race trim the LevelUp MTA rider used that speed advantage to stay ahead from lap one, but his defensive line left him open to being reeled on and attacked. With both the Australian and Munoz looking for their first win a last lap clash felt almost inevitable, with Kelso promoted back to second, 0.636s behind Rueda.

Rueda’s rookie teammate Alvaro Carpe secured a huge comeback finish. Having qualified down in 13th, he too cut through the pack to lead the chasing group, the pulling away from them to a solo fourth.

David Almansa also moved forward from ninth on the grid , fighting fellow comeback rider Taiyo Furusato to the line for fifth as top Leopard and Honda rider in the race.

Furusato started eleventh and was up and down the pack on track fighting for position from start to finish on his way to sixth for Honda Team Asia.

On pole for the first time in just his second outing, rookie Maximo Quiles, lead the opening corners before Kelso took over, making up places late on after dropping out of the top ten to place seventh for CFMoto Gaviota Aspar.

Leopard rider Adrian Fernandez was next to the line, right behind in eighth, just ahead of Luca Lunetta in ninth for SIC58 Squadra Corse.

Valentin Perrone held the home interest in the Moto3 race, riding for the French Tech3 team, along with Jacob Roulstone, and did enough for the top ten.

Dennis Foggia was outside the points at the start of the race before rallying, with help from falls ahead for eleventh for Aspar, moving ahead of Scott Ogden with a late pass pushing the CIP Green Power rider back to twelfth.

The remaining points went to Roulstone in 13th for Tech3, Cormac Buchanan in 14th for BOE and Nicola Carraro in 15th for Rivacold Snipers.

Vincente Perez just missed out after a long lap penalty in the race for a shortcut, dropping out of the points in 16th.

Already enduring a tough weekend, Riccardo Rossi also had a long lap penalty to serve for riding slowly in front of the equally unfortunate Eddie O’Shea earlier in the weekend.

Rossi started down in 22nd and finished 18th.

Crashes, Injuries and Replacements

Guido Pini had impressed in qualifying, securing second on the grid. The Liqui Moly Dynavolt Intact GP rider was in the lead pack when he slid out of contention at Garage Vert, rejoining for 17th.

Ryusei Yamanaka was the first rider to fall, off at turn six on lap two.

O’Shea had a weekend to forget, crashing in the conditions before the red flag came out for a clean up in practice, the MLav rider was then slowed by Rossi before falling on his out lap in qualifying, leaving him last on the grid in 26th. He fell again in the race, with Adrian Cruces also crashing out of contention.

Piqueras was the only other faller, with Stefano Nepa retiring to the pits.

There were a few replacement riders in the Le Mans race . Jakob Rosenthaler (21st) raced for Denssi Racing - BOE in for injured Ruche Moodley, who fractured his wrist in Jerez.

Cruces sat in for Marcos Uriate at MLav Racing, with Perez continuing in place of Matteo Bertelle at LevelUp - MTA.

Championship Standings

Rueda arrived with a four point lead over Piqueras, extended to 116 points and a 29 point gap after a win and a DNF for Piqueras, who remains second overall.

Kelso sits third on 77, with Carpe the top rookie in the standings in fifth with a total of 56 points.