Victories on Pirelli slicks for Gonzalez and Rueda on Le Mans’ damp asphalt

· Manuel Gonzalez (Kalex) won the 2025 French Grand Prix in the Moto2™ class from pole position, after always being at the head of the group and finishing ahead of Barry Baltus (Kalex) and Aron Canet (Kalex). All riders in the race used supersoft SCX compound tyres at the rear, combined with the soft SC1 front. Baltus also set the new best race lap in 1’34.941 on lap ten, improving the time set in 2024 by Aron Canet (1’35.796) by almost 9 tenths.
 
· An all-KTM podium in Moto3™ with José Antonio Rueda taking victory, taking advantage of a contact between Australian Joel Kelso – second – and David Muñoz – third – who were fighting for first place on the last alp. All riders in the race used the soft SC1 rear compound, except for David Almansa (Honda) who mounted a soft SC2. At the front, of all the riders on the podium, only Kelso used the soft SC1, with Rueda and Munoz on medium SC2. Alvaro Carpe, also on a medium SC2, fourth at the finish line, set a new race best lap in 1’40.838 on lap eleven, improving the lap set in 2024 by Joel Esteban (1’41.059) by more than two tenths.

· The Moto2™ race, ending in 35’05.439, had an extremely high pace, with an improved overall race time of more than 15 seconds, and on average 7 tenths per lap faster than in 2024.

· Both races were held on the asphalt still damp due to the rain that fell until the early hours of the morning. The Moto3™ raced with 20°C of asphalt temperature, while the Moto2™ with 21°C and very cloudy skies. Despite rather low track temperatures, basically all riders used the softer rear solutions, which proved to be very versatile.

Excellent slick tyres performance with new best race laps even on damp asphalt
 
“Compared to last season, this year the French GP was a bit more unpredictable and with varied weather conditions. All sessions until Saturday were held on dry asphalt, while today, even if the races were declared dry, the asphalt was still quite damp in some sections, especially in the Moto3™ race, since it rained until early morning, and the very cloudy sky and lack of wind contributed to keeping the track rather humid. Despite less-than-ideal conditions, the slick tyres used by the riders of both classes proved to be very versatile and capable of adapting to a wide range of temperatures. In particular, the supersoft SCX in Moto2™ achieved truly remarkable results, if we consider that this year’s race was 15 seconds faster than last year’s, and Baltus improved the race record lap by almost 9 tenths. Data collected until now on this compound is very positive, we have only used it in two races, but with very different conditions and track temperatures and, in both cases, it has behaved excellently, so we are very satisfied.”