Moto3 Argentine GP Race Report

Round 2 of the 2025 Moto3 World Championship has now drawn to a close in Argentina. After completing 18 laps around the Termas de Río Hondo Circuit, the only track we visit in South America - the real championship contenders are coming to the fore, solidifying exactly what kind of battles we should be expecting for the rest of the season.

The race began with back-to-back pole sitter Matteo Bertelle leading the charge, with early challenges Alvaro Carpe, Ryusei Yamanaka, and David Almansa by his side. 

We witnessed a great group battle involving 5 to 6 riders abreast at most corners, with a pass or be passed mindset being applied. With so many different racing lines due to the wide nature of the circuit, places were being exchanged at every corner which kept the group locked together. 

As the race settles in we see crashes from rookies Guido Pini and Marcos Uriarte in separate incidents. They are both uninjured but it shows the pace of the race that rookies are not able to maintain and therefore crash out in their first visits to the circuit.

Riccardo Rossi demonstrates glimpses of speed which tend to be rare nowadays, due to his now veteran status in Moto3 after being in the class since 2019. Rossi’s glimmers of speed are few and far between to ever consider him as a podium hopeful, even after seeing showings that he did in this Argentine race. 

Although the different racing lines are accessible and able to be played with, the slipstream is still the most valuable place to be at this circuit. Shown evidently as David Munoz who started from pitlane was not able to catch the back of the rest of the riders due to riding alone for the entire race, before eventually retiring from the Grand Prix.

Honda riders David Almansa, Taiyo Furusato and Matteo Bertelle start to stretch out the group. Instead of trading places, they tuck in behind each other and let each other set the fast laps out front, due to the setup of their machines and the flowy nature of the circuit they are able to glide around the race track in unison and build up some momentum. 

With 6 laps to go, the race starts to heat up as Angel Piqueras emerges in the group now. Due to his showings in the championship last year, his performances to win the Junior World Championship in 2023 and his mentor Pedro Acosta - Piqueras can be deemed a real threat even from 6th place. Angel’s unmatched race craft begins to heat up the race, as the riders now get even closer and even make contact on a couple of occasions.

Bertelle then decides to lead from the front for the final laps, setting consistent lap times and keeping the rest of the group at bay. Furusato’s soft tyre then starts to fade as the Leopard riders then overtake him - as tensions head up Piqueras starts to plan his final move.

In the final lap, it begins with Alvaro Carpe crashing out of the front group at turn 1. Now with Piqueras hunting down Bertelle and undoing all of his hard work setting the pace at the front, and 3 riders abreast. With the final 2 corners to go Adrian Fernandez and Taiyo Furusato decided to join the mix. After an explosive final corner, Piqueras takes the win across the line. Eventually joined by Fernandez and Jose Antonio Rueda on the podium, with Bertelle being robbed of a debut podium in those final corners.

After the checkered flag in Parc Ferme, there was a lot of confusion as Piqueras touched the green on the final lap. And evidently, the stewards knew to penalise for this crime as Furusato was penalised for this and was dropped down to 5th place, however, a blind eye was turned towards Piqueras completing the same crime. There was later discussion about a rule change over the winter break because Piqueras lost some places at a different place on the lap that is said to have evened out his rather suspicious crime. 

We expect to see these three challenges on the podium together again soon, as Rueda now leads the 2025 Moto3 World Championship standings. 

As this may be our final time visiting this circuit, with the venue not signing a contract extension and neighbour Brazil joining the calendar next year - it was a great battle to end the Argentine adventure with.