· Manuel Gonzalez (Kalex), current leader of the World Championship, made the most of the SCX rear supersoft combined with the front SC1 to take pole at the Le Mans circuit for tomorrow’s Moto2™ race with a lap of 1’34.315. The Spaniard was fastest in three of the four sessions and all the riders in qualifying used the same tyres, including second qualifier Barry Baltus and third Diogo Moreira, also on Kalex.
· Pole position for Maximo Quiles (KTM) in Moto3™, coming in at 1’39.947 with Pirelli tyres in hard SC2 compound at the front and medium SC1 at the rear. Also on the front row were KTM riders Guido Pini, second, and Joel Kelso, third, both qualified with the medium SC1 on both axles.
· New all-time lap records were set in both classes. In Moto2™, poleman Gonzalez’s qualifying time of 1’34.315 improved by more than half a second compared to 2024, while in Moto3™ the new all-time lap record was set by Joel Kelso (KTM) in FP2, with a time of 1’39.885, more than two tenths faster than the record set by David Alonso in 2024.
Improved track record laps in both classes
“On Friday, with the track in less than optimal conditions and with little rubber on the ground, the riders of both classes were very fast, lapping well below the best race lap in FP1 and, in the case of Moto3™, also below the all-time lap record in Practice, a result also obtained in Moto2™ in FP2 this morning and further improved by poleman Gonzalez in qualifying. The Moto3™ riders, in all likelihood, could have further improved these times in qualifying but the wind, blowing in the opposite direction on the two main straights, had a negative impact. As for the tyres, those in softer compound on both axles are most used. In particular, in Moto2™ the supersoft SCX rear tyre, which made its debut at Jerez, has so far been the undisputed protagonist here at Le Mans. We expect it to be the same tomorrow in the race, because some long runs were carried out in the practice sessions and this compound showed very low levels of wear, leading to it being favoured over the soft SC0. It will be used mostly in combination with the soft SC1 front, provided that it doesn’t rain tomorrow, an eventuality that cannot be ruled out and that could reset the work done by the teams and riders in these first two days”.
