Moto3 2026

Quiles leads a frantic class into Jerez

If Moto2 has been tight, Moto3 has been pure disorder in the best possible way. Three rounds in, the lightweight class has already delivered a photo-finish season opener, a bizarre two-part race in Brazil, and another last-lap showdown at COTA. The postponement of Qatar has now handed the class an unexpectedly long gap before Jerez on April 24-26, but the break has not made the championship picture any clearer. If anything, it has just frozen a contest that still feels unstable from one weekend to the next.

Thailand hinted immediately that this would not be a season for cautious forecasts. David Almansa edged Maximo Quiles by just 0.003s in Buriram to claim his first Moto3 victory, with Valentin Perrone third and Alvaro Carpe fourth. That result left Almansa leading the standings on 25 points from Quiles on 20, with Perrone on 16 and Carpe on 13, but even then the margins were so small, and the lead group so fluid, that it felt more like an opening skirmish than the start of a hierarchy.

Brazil then blew that hierarchy apart. Quiles emerged with the official win from the five-lap restarted second part of a bizarre race, beating team-mate Marco Morelli by 0.143s while Indonesia’s Veda Pratama took a landmark first Grand Prix podium in third. But the story underneath the result mattered just as much: Almansa had charged from 14th on the grid and was in control before crashing, while the red flag effectively reset the race and gave riders such as Morelli a second chance. By the end of the weekend, Quiles had moved to the top of the championship on 45 points, with Morelli second on 28, Pratama third on 27 and Carpe fourth on 26.

COTA added another twist instead of delivering clarity. Guido Pini took his first Moto3 Grand Prix victory in Austin, beating Quiles by just 0.056s after Carpe and Perrone compromised each other at the final corner. That result did not knock Quiles off the top spot; instead, it underlined his consistency. He left the United States still leading the championship on 65 points, with Carpe second on 42, Perrone third on 38 and Pini’s breakthrough win lifting him to fourth on 36. Three rounds in, Quiles has been the common thread near the front, but he still has not been able to turn that into anything resembling control.

That is the key point before Jerez. Quiles is the leader, but Moto3 has not yet belonged to him. The category has been defined by lead-group volatility, red flags, penalties and last-lap swings. Almansa won in Thailand but then lost momentum in Brazil. Morelli and Pratama broke through in Goiânia. Pini exploded into the picture at COTA. Carpe and Perrone remain close enough to strike. The class has a points leader, but the racing still feels completely open, with almost every weekend turning on split-second decisions rather than any rider imposing sustained authority.

There is also an Australian angle, even if it has not yet produced the rewards Joel Kelso would have wanted. Kelso recovered from 19th on the opening lap in Thailand to finish 14th and score points, was 11th at the stoppage in Brazil before the restart reshaped that race, and then looked on for another top-10 type result at COTA before crashing out of sixth place on lap eight.

Kelso heads to Jerez 19th in the standings on six points, which is not where he would want to be, but it also does not tell the full story of a rider who has shown glimpses of pace without getting a clean weekend to build on.

Joel Kelso

“Overall, the first three rounds on the Honda have been really positive. Step by step, we’re learning the bike, getting used to it and building stronger as a team. We knew it was going to take a bit of time to adapt, but we’re confident the results will come soon.”

Jerez, then, feels less like round four and more like the first proper test of whether this class is going to settle at all. Quiles has the points lead and the strongest early claim to consistency, but Moto3 has repeatedly shown that consistency alone does not guarantee control. Almansa, Carpe, Perrone, Pini and the rest have all had enough speed to change the shape of the championship in a single weekend. After an opening phase built on chaos, restarts and final-corner drama, the move to Europe should start telling us whether Quiles can turn promise into command, or whether Moto3 is heading for one of those seasons where no one is ever truly safe at the top.

Moto3 Championship Standings

Pos	Rider	Points
1	M. Quiles	65
2	A. Carpe	42
3	V. Perrone	38
4	G. Pini	36
5	M. Morelli	32
6	A. Fernandez	29
7	V. Pratama	27
8	D. Almansa	25
9	B. Uriarte	23
10	R. Salmela	20
11	A. Cruces	14
12	C. O’Gorman	12
13	S. Ogden	10
14	H. Danish	9
15	J. Esteban	7
16	M. Bertelle	7
17	E. O’Shea	7
18	D. Muñoz	6
19	J. Kelso	6
20	R. Yamanaka	2
21	M. Uriarte	2
22	J. Rios	1
23	L. Rammerstorfer	0
24	Z. Mitani	0
25	R. Moodley	0
26	N. Carraro	0
27	C. Buchanan	0

2026 MotoGP Calendar

Rnd	Date	Event	Circuit
1	01 Mar	Thai	Chang International Circuit
2	22 Mar	Brazil*	Autodromo Internacional Ayrton Senna
3	29 Mar	US	Circuit of the Americas
4	26 Apr	Spain**	Circuito de Jerez-Angel Nieto
5	10 May	France	Le Mans
6	17 May	Catalonia	Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya
7	31 May	Italy	Autodromo Internazionale del Mugello
8	07 Jun	Hungary	Balaton Park Circuit
9	21 Jun	Czech	Automotodrom Brno
10	28 Jun	Netherlands	TT Circuit Assen
11	12 Jul	Germany	Sachsenring
12	09 Aug	GB	Silverstone Circuit
13	30 Aug	Aragon	MotorLand Aragon
14	13 Sep	San Marino	Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli
15	20 Sep	Austria	Red Bull Ring-Spielberg
16	04 Oct	Japan	Mobility Resort Motegi
17	11 Oct	Indonesia	Pertamina Mandalika International Circuit
18	25 Oct	Australia	Phillip Island
19	01 Nov	Malaysia	Petronas Sepang International Circuit
20	08 Nov	Qatar	Lusail International Circuit
21	22 Nov	Portugal	Autodromo Internacional do Algarve
22	29 Nov	Valencia	Circuit Ricardo Tormo

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