The Red Bull KTM Tech3 team is thrilled to head to Portimao for the penultimate round of the 2025 MotoGP™ World Championship, as we return to Europe for the final two rounds of the season. Enea Bastianini will team up once again with Pol Espargaro, as the Spaniard will continue to replace Maverick Viñales this week, who will benefit from an extra week to fully focus on his shoulder recovery.
Grand Prix of Portugal
Soo, we are back to Europe, and the insane rollercoaster of Portimao awaits both Enea Bastianini and Pol Espargaro. After two solid Sunday races, Bastianini will be arriving in good shape with the confidence from both Australia and Malaysia. However, he still faces the one fast lap challenge, which he must improve to allow him to start from better positions. On the other side of the garage, a mutual decision between Maverick Viñales, the team and KTM will see the number 12 sit out the Portuguese Grand Prix to benefit from an extra week of recovery. Pol Espargaro will race with the Red Bull KTM Tech3 team once again, after his two solid rounds in Australia and Malaysia with us. It will be for sure special for the number 44 to return racing to Portugal, the place where he sustained his big injury at the start of the 2023 season, but he will be ready to face the mental challenge that it represents for him.
Be part of the fun in Portugal and follow Red Bull KTM Tech3’s Enea Bastianini and Pol Espargaro all weekend long, starting with Free Practice 1 on Friday morning at 10:45 (UTC), followed by the one-hour Practice in the afternoon, at 15:00. On Saturday, the boys will be back on track with Free Practice 2 at 10:10, just before qualifying starts at 10:50. Can the boys put all their chances on their sides and qualify on the first rows? Once we have that figured out, it will be time for the Tissot Sprint at 15:00, as the best of twelve fast laps will penultimate Sprint medal at stake this season. Finally on Sunday, the main race of the Grand Prix of Portugal is scheduled at 13:00 local time (GMT), for twenty-five laps.
ENEA BASTIANINI: "We are arriving at Portimao with the confidence of two solid races in both Australia and Malaysia, but it is also a completely different track to Phillip Island and Sepang, so we will have to wait for Friday to understand if we can be competitive. Looking at last season, the KTM was fast here, so it is encouraging for us, but we know that we are still missing something in qualifying. I hope that we will find a way to be more competitive on one lap, and hopefully, we can try to qualify for the second or third row, which should make our life easier!"
POL ESPARGARO: "Honestly, I was not expecting to have to substitute Maverick again, but I understand this is the best decision to have him fully recovered as soon as possible, the most important thing for the KTM project. As I always say, this is part of my duties as a test rider and I will try again to be as helpful as possible to the factory and to the other riders. We have been working last week in Jerez, so let’s see if we can continue gaining more positive info to improve our bike. This circuit is, in some way, special for me. The last time I competed there, things didn’t finish well, so I see this weekend as a challenge for me. In any case, I’m really looking forward to facing it."
NICOLAS GOYON, Team Manager: "After the Asian tour, we are back to Europe for the final two rounds of the 2025 championship, with our first stop in Portugal at Portimao’s rollercoaster! The Tech3 team has very good memories at this track, since Miguel Oliveira won the first edition of the Portuguese GP with us back in 2020 on the KTM, and Pedro Acosta took his maiden MotoGP podium there with us last season. Our bike has always been strong on this track, we had 3 KTMs in the top 5 in 2024, which makes us believe that we should have the tools to fight at the front this year. Enea Bastianini will arrive there in good shape with two strong races in the bag, and we know he will be determined to improve qualifying. Portimao can be the perfect place to do it, since he started from the pole position in 2024. On the other side of the garage, it has been decided together with KTM to give an extra week of recovery to Maverick Viñales. Portimao is physically really demanding, and the focus is to have Maverick in the best condition possible in Valencia, which will be followed by the test. Pol Espargaro will therefore once again step in to replace Maverick. The last time Pol was in Portimao was in 2023, when he was seriously injured, so it will be a good opportunity for him to reconnect with this track."
ABOUT THE TRACK
Nestled in the beautiful setting of Portugal’s Algarve, the 100,000 capacity Autodromo Internacional do Algarve – known more colloquially as Portimao, after the port city it sits half an hour outside of – was opened on the 2nd of November 2008. The circuit was inaugurated by WorldSBK when they headed to Portugal for their final round of that season – but it’s not just a racetrack. The Algarve Motorsports Park is a state-of-the-art complex which boasts the stunning racetrack, a go-kart track, an off-road park, a hotel, an apartment complex, a technology park and a sports complex – it really is the bee’s knees. In terms of the actual circuit layout, the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve has 15 corners – nine right, six left. The undulation in Portimao is incredible and the front straight will allow the MotoGP™ riders to really stretch the legs of their machines, before a unique downhill descend into Turn 1.
TRACK RECORDS
All time record: 2023 - M. Marquez (SPA) - 1'37.226 - 170.0 km/h
Best Race Lap: 2024 - E. Bastianini (ITA) - 1'38.685 - 167.5 km/h
Best Pole: 2023 - M. Marquez (SPA) - 1'37.226 - 170.0 km/h
Top Speed: 2024 - M. Oliveira (POR) - 352.9 km/h
