KTM Ajo star Jose Antonio Rueda recovered from a poor opening lap to win a truncated Moto3 race in Indonesia and clinch the 2025 title.
Rueda arrived this weekend with a 93-point lead in the championship over his closest rival Angel Piqueras, and needed to extend that advantage to over a 100 to wrap up the title with four rounds to go.
The 19-year-old finished second on the road in Indonesia, but was promoted to first position after Adrian Fernandez was handed a double long-lap penalty for the collision with David Munoz that led to the race being red-flagged on lap 19.
Given two-thirds of the distance had already been completed, the race was not restarted, with results declared based on the order after lap 18. Fernandez was given a six-second time penalty in lieu of the double long-lap sanction that he couldn’t serve, elevating Rueda to victory.
With title rival Piqueras managing only seventh place after being hit with a long lap penalty of his own for taking a shortcut at Turn 9, Rueda was officially declared the 2025 Moto3 champion.
This was also the ninth victory of the season for the Spaniard, who will move up to Moto2 next season with KTM Ajo.
Jose Antonio Rueda, Red Bull KTM Ajo
Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / LAT Images / via Getty Images
However, it all went wrong for Rueda at the start as he plummeted from ninth to 14 place, while his nearest rival Piqueras moved up from 11th to sixth.
Piqueras ran as high as fourth before suddenly dropping to eighth on lap 5, leaving him on the same part of the track as Rueda, who had recovered some of the lost ground by then.
Rueda made light work of Piqueras and continued his charge up the order, moving into podium positions by lap nine. After dispatching Maximo Quiles, he sent his bike up the lead of long-time leader Fernandez into Turn 10 on lap 13 to hit the front for the first time.
Rueda’s advantage seemed comfortable at one point, but the race turned to its head on lap 18 when both Munoz and Fernandez passed him for the lead in one corner.
Just a few corners later, Fernandez then tagged the back of Munoz’s bike as they battled for position, throwing the Intact GP rider off his bike in a nasty crash.
This put Rueda back in second place behind Fernandez, but the red flag was deployed a later lap due to the crash that had taken Munoz out of the race.
Rueda was declared the race winner – and the 2025 champion – while Fernandez dropped to sixth in the final order following the six-second penalty he received for colliding with Munoz.
Munoz’s teammate Guido Pini took the final podium spot in third after three seconds were added to Aspar rider Quiles’s race time for taking a shortcut earlier in the race at Turn 9. Quiles had actually served his long lap at the start of the 19th lap, but given the race was essentially concluded on lap 18, the time penalty had to be applied.
It left Quiles in fourth place ahead of Tech3’s Roulstone and Fernandez, while Piqueras could only manage seventh after his own long lap penalty.
The race control later announced that Munoz is conscious but has been taken to the medical centre for check-ups.
| 1 |
Red Bull KTM Factory Racing |
99 | KTM | 18 |
|
25 | ||||
| 2 |
SIC58 Squadra Corse |
58 | Honda | 18 |
0.305 |
20 | ||||
| 3 |
Liqui Moly Dynavolt Intact GP |
94 | KTM | 18 |
0.083 |
16 | ||||
| 4 |
CFMOTO Gaviota Aspar Team |
28 | KTM | 18 |
2.639 |
13 | ||||
| 5 |
Red Bull KTM Tech 3 |
12 | KTM | 18 |
1.951 |
11 | ||||
| 6 |
|
31 | Honda | 18 |
0.769 |
10 | ||||
| 7 |
FRINSA – MT Helmets – MSI |
36 | KTM | 18 |
0.407 |
9 | ||||
| 8 |
|
6 | KTM | 18 |
9.990 |
8 | ||||
| 9 |
|
82 | Honda | 18 |
0.339 |
7 | ||||
| 10 |
LEVELUP-MTA |
66 | KTM | 18 |
3.765 |
6 | ||||
| 11 |
LEVELUP-MTA |
18 | KTM | 18 |
0.817 |
5 | ||||
| 12 |
|
71 | KTM | 18 |
0.313 |
4 | ||||
| 13 |
DENSSI Racing – BOE |
21 | KTM | 18 |
0.790 |
3 | ||||
| 14 |
GRYD – Mlav Racing |
95 | Honda | 18 |
2.627 |
2 | ||||
| 15 |
GRYD – Mlav Racing |
8 | Honda | 18 |
0.178 |
1 | ||||
| 16 |
DENSSI Racing – BOE |
14 | KTM | 18 |
0.131 |
|||||
| 17 |
CIP |
55 | KTM | 18 |
5.729 |
|||||
| 18 |
|
54 | Honda | 18 |
3.697 |
|||||
| 19 |
Honda Team Asia |
93 | Honda | 17 |
1 Lap |
|||||
| dnf |
Liqui Moly Dynavolt Intact GP |
64 | KTM | 17 |
10.068 |
Retirement | ||||
| dnf |
Leopard Racing |
22 | Honda | 15 |
2 Laps |
Retirement | ||||
| dnf |
|
72 | Honda | 14 |
1 Lap |
Retirement | ||||
| dnf |
Red Bull KTM Factory Racing |
83 | KTM | 13 |
1 Lap |
Retirement | ||||
| dnf |
|
19 | KTM | 13 |
44.188 |
Retirement | ||||
| dnf |
Rivacold Snipers Team |
2 | Honda | 11 |
2 Laps |
Retirement |
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– The Autosport.com Team
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