Red Bull KTM Tech3’s Maverick Viñales persevered with a soft tire choice and almost grabbed his first ‘Saturday’ points in the fourth MotoGP Sprint of the season. The Grand Prix of Qatar takes place at the impressively remodeled Lusail International Circuit for the 23rd time and the collection of fast curves north of Doha was the floodlit stage for more progression and learning for the Red Bull KTM MotoGP quartet.
- Top ten for Maverick Viñales who qualifies 6th from his Q2 efforts and then starts from the second row of the grid
- Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Pedro Acosta vies for Sprint points but has traction issues with the soft rear tire choice and crosses the line in P11
- Enea Bastianini gets the better of Brad Binder in the Sprint as the Italian classifies 13th and the South African makes sure of 14th
- In Moto3™ Jose Antonio Rueda cuts a fast track to 3rd and the front row with the KTM RC4 and for the KTM GP Academy. Deniz Öncü raises his speed to log the 7th fastest effort in Moto2™
For the 19th time MotoGP was able to enjoy an evening setting for the Qatar Grand Prix and the unique Lusail International Circuit offered its usual mix of 16 corners around the 5.3km layout and with three heavy braking zones. Red Bull KTM came to this staple venue on the world championship calendar with previous podium form at LIC but still chasing their first trophies of 2025 after trips to Thailand, Argentina and the USA.
Pedro Acosta found a decent groove through FP1 and Practice on Friday and went straight through to Q2 for Saturday. Maverick Viñales was also quick and was the second KTM RC16 rider in the top ten. Brad Binder and Enea Bastianini had to wade through Q1 in the setting sun and registered times for 18th and 20th on the grid. Viñales was only half a second from Pole Position after Q2 with a lap only a few tenths of a second from the old lap record. His push was enough for P6 and the second row. Acosta rode to 12th spot.
The 22-lap Grand Prix will begin at 20.00 local time and 19.00 CET.
Maverick Viñales, 6th in qualification, 10th in the Sprint: “A good day to be honest. We made a mistake with the tire choice for the Sprint but the qualifying was decent and I had a great feeling on the bike; I could put it where I wanted and adapted my style for the strong points. It is all about timing and learning, and we’re positive. We need some more information with the tires…but I think we can be happy with the steps we have made in the races so far.”
Pedro Acosta, 12th in qualification, 11th in the Sprint: “Difficult. We were quite convinced with the soft tire and we went for it but our chatter problem is still hard to manage anyway. We tried some settings from last year and this gave me back the good feelings I had in braking and the problems I had in Austin were gone…but the chatter is quite critical and we need to see what we can do for tomorrow.”
Enea Bastianini, 20th in qualification, 13th in the Sprint: “A complicated day but we have been trying to improve and have modified the setting quite a lot. The solution we found seemed to work for the Sprint race and my confidence came back a bit. I tried to recover as many positions as I could and made it to 13th. Taking the medium tire meant a good strategy for tomorrow.”
Brad Binder, 18th in qualification, 14th in the Sprint: “Definitely not the right tire choice but I was having other problems and ran off track four times. It was very tricky and we need to get things under control for tomorrow. We need to try and figure it out but we’re all pushing to solve it. I think we’ll be OK because the guys have some ideas in the pocket but at the moment we know our limit and cannot go over it.”
Aki Ajo, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Team Manager: “Of course our general performance in the Sprint today could be better but we feel we have made a step forward by understanding our needs and requirements. Perhaps the tire choice this evening didn’t help us to prove our current potential but we’ll see more of that tomorrow. We’ll apply what we have learnt here so far and go again.”
Results Qualifying MotoGP Grand Prix of Qatar
1. Marc Marquez (ESP) Ducati 1:50.499
2. Alex Marquez (ESP) Ducati +0.101
3. Fabio Quartararo (FRA) Yamaha +0.260
6. Maverick Viñales (ESP) Red Bull KTM Tech3 +0.560
12. Pedro Acosta (ESP) Red Bull KTM Factory Racing +1.181
18. Brad Binder (RSA) Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 1:51.947 (Q1)
20. Enea Bastianini (ITA) Red Bull KTM Tech3 1:52.178 (Q1)
Results MotoGP Sprint Grand Prix of Qatar
1. Marc Marquez (ESP) Ducati 20:38.304
2. Alex Marquez (ESP) Ducati +1.577
3. Franco Morbidelli (ITA) Ducati +3.988
10. Maverick Viñales (ESP) Red Bull KTM Tech3 +12.554
11. Pedro Acosta (ESP) Red Bull KTM Factory Racing +13.676
13. Enea Bastianini (ITA) Red Bull KTM Tech3 +14.408
KTM GP Academy
Moto3 championship leader Jose Antonio Rueda established top billing through the sessions from Friday. The Spaniard was P3, then P1 in Practice and P1 again on Saturday afternoon. Rueda had taken a place on the front row of the Qatar grid in 2024 and proceeded to build on his positive 2025 form to-date (as well as his bright feeling with the Lusail trajectory) and repeated the feat with P3; just 0.2 from Pole. Alvaro Carpe was fractions of a second away from his Red Bull KTM Ajo teammate during Friday and Saturday and clocked the sixth best lap in Q2 on his first thrash around the desert-set circuit.
Deniz Öncü and Collin Veijer worked hard to find their markers and references for Moto2. The Turk was consistently among the top ten fastest in both the afternoon and evening schedules and Veijer was also lively with top fifteen billing. The dash through Q2 gave Öncü P7 and the third row: he was under half a second from the Pole time. Veijer was 20th.
TV viewers will have to set their later Sunday schedule to 16.00 CET to catch the 16-lap Moto3 dispute.
Results Qualifying Moto3 Grand Prix of Qatar
1. Ryusei Yamanaka (JPN) KTM 2:02.638
2. Joel Kelso (AUS) KTM +0.041
3. Jose Antonio Rueda (ESP), Red Bull KTM Ajo +0.276
6. Alvaro Carpe (ESP), Red Bull KTM Ajo +0.471
13. Dennis Foggia (ITA) CFMOTO Aspar Team +1.351
19. Valentin Perrone (ARG) Red Bull KTM Tech3 2:04.517 (Q1)
21. Joel Esteban (ESP) CFMOTO Aspar Team 2:04.549 (Q1)
22. Jacob Roulstone (AUS), Red Bull KTM Tech3 2:04.696 (Q1)
Results Qualifying Moto2 Grand Prix of Qatar
1. Manuel Gonzalez (ESP) 1:56.301
2. Jake Dixon (GBR) +0.168
3. Aron Canet (ESP) +0.292
5. Daniel Holgado (ESP) CFMOTO Inde Aspar Team +0.455
7. Deniz Öncü (TUR) Red Bull KTM Ajo +0.477
11. David Alonso (COL) CFMOTO Inde Aspar Team +0.743
20. Collin Veijer (NED) Red Bull KTM Ajo 1:57.540 (Q1)
