Pirelli Record pole for Moreira in Moto2 as Kelso fastest in Moto3

· The orientation of the Moto2™ riders regarding the tyres to be used during the Grand Prix of Portugal 2025 was clear from FP1, and in all sessions all riders used the soft SC1 front and the E0125 development specification in soft rear compound. These were therefore also the tyres chosen by Diogo Moreira (Kalex) to take pole position for tomorrow’s race and set a new all-time lap record in 1’41.168, improving by more than three tenths the record set by Manuel Gonzalez in 2024 (1’41.514). Behind the Brazilian were Jake Dixon (Boscoscuro) and Collin Veijer (Kalex) respectively.

· Joel Kelso (KTM) took pole for tomorrow’s race with a time of 1’46.764 at the last of seven laps. Behind the Australian rider were Scott Ogden, second, and Ángel Piqueras, third, for an all-KTM front row. The first two used soft SC1 compound tyres for both axles, while the Spaniard preferred the medium SC2 at the front.

· The practice sessions took place with track temperatures ranging from 15 °C in Moto3™ FP2 on Saturday morning to 24 °C in Moto3™ Practice on Friday afternoon, while qualifying for both classes was the session with the highest temperatures so far, around 29 °C.

With new rear soft, Moto2™ riders were fast despite sub-optimal track conditions
 
“On the first two days of the Portuguese GP, the riders had to deal with sub-optimal track conditions and unstable weather that affected lap times. Yesterday, with rather low temperatures and scattered rain, both classes used slick tyres in both FP1 and Practice. The Moto3™ riders, who have the same tyres as last year, lapped about 6 tenths from the track record while in Moto2™ the faster times compared to 2024, with the new all-time lap record already established in FP1 and then improved in Practice and qualifying, are attributable to the performance of the new E0125 rear soft which, compared to the standard SC0 soft used last year, has shown, as on other occasions this year, that it can offer more grip. This result is obtained by working on the structure since the compound used by this development tyre is the same as the standard SC0. Today, in FP2, the riders of both classes used rain tyres because the track was wet due to the rain that fell during the night. This made the session useless in view of qualifying, which instead took place with mostly sunny skies and a dry track, even if the rain effectively wiped out the evolution. Nonetheless, in qualifying the Moto2™ riders managed to further improve the all-time lap record while in Moto3™ Kelso came close, just three tenths slower. For tomorrow’s races, the soft SC1 front and the soft E0125 rear will be the reference set for Moto2™, while in Moto3™ there is still a bit of uncertainty, and we will probably have a varied grid in which all the compounds can play a relevant role”.