Brazilian Grand Prix: Race Report

The team leaves Goiânia with valuable points on the board, already turning its focus to next weekend’s round in Austin, Texas

The Moto3 World Championship returned to Brazil for the first time in over 22 years, with the paddock welcomed back in front of an impressive crowd of more than 148,000 fans across the weekend.

Starting from the third row, Joel Kelso made a strong launch and settled into the leading group during the opening laps, consistently running inside the top 15.

From the penultimate row of the grid, Eddie O’Shea delivered an impressive opening stint, making up several positions early on to move into contention for the points.

The race was red-flagged with nine laps remaining, before two-thirds distance had been reached. Kelso was running 11th in the second group after the leaders broke away, which placed him on the fourth row for the restart.

O’Shea, meanwhile, had worked his way into the same group and crossed the line at the end of lap 14 in 13th position, securing a fifth-row start for the restart.

 

AFTER THE RED FLAG

The race was reduced to a five-lap sprint, setting up a short but intense dash to the flag.

O’Shea made a strong second start, immediately joining the fight for 13th place alongside his rivals in a tightly contested midfield battle. Kelso initially dropped back to 17th, but quickly regained ground. With two laps remaining, the #66 had climbed back into 13th, while the #8 was running in 15th.

At the chequered flag, Kelso secured a solid 12th-place finish, with O’Shea crossing the line in 15th, adding four and one points respectively to the team’s tally, following the three scored in Thailand.

JOEL KELSO: It’s been a positive weekend. We’ve made a big step forward from Thailand in terms of lap time and riding on our own, but we still need to find the right direction for the race, both for myself and the bike. Overall, we just need to refine the final details. We’ll keep working ahead of Austin.

EDDIE O’SHEA: Leaving Brazil with more points after another good recovery ride. Starting from P22 was never going to be easy, but we dug deep and found a good pace. The red flag threw a spanner in the works, and the five-lap dash didn’t work in our favour, but overall I’m happy and ready for COTA next week.

 

The team now heads to Austin for the third round of the season, aiming to build on a positive weekend in Brazil.