11.05.2025

Top five spoils for Acosta and Viñales in tricky and tremendous French MotoGP™

MotoGP 2025 - Round 06 of 22, Le Mans, France – Race

Pedro Acosta 2025 MotoGP France Sunday © KTM Images/Polarity Photo

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The 2025 MotoGP season continues to bloom for KTM’s factory effort at the highest level of FIM world championship competition. A record-breaking 311,000 fans loaded the spectator areas at Le Mans for a chaotic wet French Grand Prix and saw Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Pedro Acosta take 4th for his best result of the campaign and Red Bull KTM Tech3’s Maverick Viñales finish 5th. Jose Antonio Rueda‘s last corner attack led to his fourth Moto3™ victory of 2025 with the KTM RC4 and extend his advantage at the peak of the championship.

Pedro Acosta adapts admirably from dry to wet settings for the KTM RC16 and comes close to his first podium result of 2025
Maverick Viñales follows up his best Sprint performance of the year on Saturday to score another top five finish, using his experience to weave through the difficult conditions
Enea Bastianini and Brad Binder were fallers in the French rain but the Italian remounted and defied penalties to take P13
Jose Antonio Rueda charged to his fourth win and fifth podium appearance from six rounds after stalking the podium battle in Moto3

Le Mans maintained its fantastic bulge of spectators, excitement and anticipation for the third and final day of the French Grand Prix and an exciting race program. In contrast to a sunny and bright Saturday, the Sarthe skies were cloudy and showery, which created upheaval for the premier class. Despite the climate, the large crowd still gathered en masse for the outing that brings the series beyond the quarter mark for the 2025 campaign.

Red Bull KTM slotted three riders onto the first five rows of the start grid for the 27-lap affair around the famous 4.1km Bugatti layout, which forms part of the hallowed 24hr course. Maverick Viñales in P5 was followed by Pedro Acosta in P12, Brad Binder in P13 and then Enea Bastianini P18. The weather created some uncertainty and watchful looks at the sky and radar systems. Morning Warm-up was soaking but Le Mans was kind enough to Moto3 and Moto2 to provide a dry track. Rainfall again caused indecision when MotoGP took to the grid. The new rule system for race starts came into play as the GP was briefly delayed and riders changed from wet to dry machines. Viñales and Acosta then reentered pitlane for a second time inside the first five laps of the reduced 26-lap distance to exchange bikes with wet settings as more showers arrived.

When the race finally settled into a rhythm in the wake of motorcycle swaps and double long lap penalties, Acosta was able to keep steady and try for the podium, running P3 until his rear tire choice proved to be a drawback, dropping him to P4 and Viñales made it home in P5. Bastianini slipped off twice and also had two long lap penalties. The Italian kept motoring and finished P13. Binder crashed into Turn 14 and then again shortly afterwards in Turn 1 to end his day early.

MotoGP’s blend with heritage, and the challenge of world-renowned circuits flows into the sixth date of the year with the British Grand Prix at Silverstone in two weeks.

Pedro Acosta, 4th and 9th in the championship standings: “Wrong tire today. The start was OK, the comeback was OK and the rhythm in the wet also, but when there was more water on track suddenly it was a mess and the grip was not there. It was super-difficult to understand why the first sector was so slippery and the rest was quite OK! We survived. Generally, a positive weekend but we’re quite sad. We go to the next one.”

Maverick Viñales, 5th and 11th in the championship standings:“One of my best results so far in a flag-to-flag, so I am more than happy. Also, I’m pleased with the feeling I get with the dry laps and the potential was very high, unfortunately when we switched to the rain tires our speed was a bit slower and we could not fight for the podium. I had edge grip but could not get the traction I wanted in a straight line and I have no explanation for that. These are the kinds of races we need to build-up and be solid. To ride the bike here was really nice.”

Enea Bastianini, 13th and 15th in the championship standings: “Crazy race! And difficult for everybody because the situation on track was on the limit. Our decision to start with the slick seemed the right one. I had the crash and mistake with Pecco [Bagnaia] and then crashed again. I was a bit lucky to be able to take the wet bike and I thought ‘let’s do the maximum’ but I had two sets of long laps; one because we did not have the limiter engaged for the pitlane. Our strategy in the end was probably not the right one but my feeling was good on a slippery track in the wet.”

Brad Binder, DNF and 14th in the championship standings: “Not too much to say. My race was a lot shorter than I would have liked. Very tricky to understand what tires we should have had at the beginning. We had wets, came in for slicks and I thought things were going quite well but into the last corner there was a bit more water than I expected and it just slipped away. I picked up, did my two long laps and was planning to come in but it just washed in Turn 1. It was time to have been on the wets! Sometimes things do not work out, and sorry to my team because they deserved a good result after all their efforts lately. We’ll try again in Silverstone.”

Aki Ajo, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Team Manager: “More progression. Technically we are clearer than where we were at the start of the season and I feel our riders have more confidence to chase the top results. Le Mans is often not the easiest place to make a solid weekend because the conditions can change so much: the race today was a bit special! But the weekend was constant for our work. We made the top five and I’m sure we had the pace to go for even better. We have potential for the next races and we go to Silverstone with confidence.”

Grand Prix of France photographs can be found HERE

Results MotoGP Grand Prix of France

1. Johann Zarco (FRA) Honda 45:47.541

2. Marc Marquez (ESP) Ducati +19.907

3. Fermin Aldeguer (ESP) Ducati +26.532

4. Pedro Acosta (ESP) Red Bull KTM Factory Racing +29.631

5. Maverick Viñales (ESP) Red Bull KTM Tech3 +38.136

13. Enea Bastianini (ITA) Red Bull KTM Tech3 +1 lap

DNF. Brad Binder (RSA) Red Bull KTM Factory Racing

World Championship standings MotoGP

1. Marc Marquez (ESP) Ducati, 171 points

2. Alex Marquez (ESP) Ducati, 149

3. Francesco Bagnaia (ITA) Ducati, 120

9. Pedro Acosta (ESP) Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, 46

11. Maverick Viñales (ESP) Red Bull KTM Tech3, 40

14. Brad Binder (RSA) Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, 32

15. Enea Bastianini (ITA) Red Bull KTM Tech3, 31

KTM GP Academy

Moto3 faced a damp track on an overcast Sunday morning. The conditions initially reset expectations for the 20-lap Grand Prix but the field set-off with slick tires and quickly built up to dry weather speed. Red Bull KTM Tech3’s Valentin Perrone started from a season and career-best 7th place with championship leader Jose Antonio Rueda in P8 on the Red Bull KTM Ajo KTM RC4. Alvaro Carpe and Jacob Roulstone got away from the fifth and sixth rows of the grid.

Rueda was the early aggressor and forged a path into the top four before mid-race distance and Carpe also worked into the top ten, setting the fastest lap with 14 to go. The two Red Bull KTM Ajo riders wedged into the lead quintet as Perrone fought hard in the second group. The final dash was decided between three protagonists. Rueda set his personal best chrono on the last lap to take advantage of contact between the two riders ahead on the final sector to storm through and take the flag. Carpe kept consistent to secure a distant 4th. Perrone’s eight rider squabble was settled at the line with the rookie managing 10th place. Roulstone grappled back from a lackluster start to take three points for 13th position.

Rueda keeps P1 in the points table and with a cushion of 29. KTM are sweeping ahead in the Manufacturers championship and Red Bull KTM Ajo top the Teams standings.

Jose Antonio Rueda: “Very happy with the weekend and the work with the team to prepare for this race. I’m happy because I could ride like I wanted and managed the race. In Moto3 every last lap and corner is crazy! And I pushed for 1st position. Let’s keep working!”

22 laps of Moto2 formed the second race of the day. The Red Bull KTM Ajo crew had Deniz Öncü in 13th after Saturday’s Q2, while rookie Collin Veijer stared at the first corner from 19th place. The Turk missed some pace to trouble the top ten and crossed the line in 17th. Sadly, Collin’s race was over from the first lap after a crash while deep in the pack.

The second meeting (races three and four) of the 2025 Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup also graced the French Grand Prix agenda. Brian Uriarte and Carter Thompson were the winners from the season-opener in Jerez and the Spaniard and Australian were again trying to set the pace at Le Mans. It was Uriarte who surged through from the 24-rider group, all throttling KTM machinery, to win on Saturday afternoon, assisted by a red flag that prematurely ended the race. His countryman, Beñat Fernandez, prevailed comfortably by 12 seconds in wet conditions on Sunday morning as both Uriarte and Thompson slid out of the running. Malaysia’s Hakim Danish (who recovered from a crash on the first lap to finish as runner-up on Sunday!) heads the early championship standings with more Red Bull MotoGP Rookies fare coming up on Grands Prix dates in Aragon, Italy, Germany, Austria and San Marino.

Results Moto3 Grand Prix of France

1. Jose Antonio Rueda (ESP), Red Bull KTM Ajo 34:01.752

2. Joel Kelso (AUS), KTM +0.636

3. David Muñoz (ESP), KTM +0.124

4. Alvaro Carpe (ESP), Red Bull KTM Ajo +3.788

7. Maximo Quiles (ESP) CFMOTO Aspar Team +6.521

10. Valentin Perrone (ARG) Red Bull KTM Tech3 +7.241

11. Dennis Foggia (ITA) CFMOTO Aspar Team +8.574

13. Jacob Roulstone (AUS), Red Bull KTM Tech3 +12.153

World Championship standings Moto3

1. Jose Antonio Rueda (ESP), Red Bull KTM Ajo 116 points

2. Angel Piqueras (ESP), KTM, 87