Pirelli’s new SCX led Gonzalez to victory in Moto2 while Rueda wins in Moto3

· Manuel Gonzalez (Kalex) made the most of the new Pirelli supersoft SCX rear, combined with the soft SC1 front, and took a clear victory in the Moto2™️ race at the Spanish Grand Prix in Jerez. He shared the podium with Barry Baltus and Senna Agius (both in Kalex), who chose the same tyre combination, as did almost all the other riders. The only exception was Joe Roberts (Kalex), who opted for the soft SC0 at the rear.

· Thanks to the extra grip and consistency of the new supersoft SCX, Gonzalez finished the 21 laps of the race 5 seconds faster than in 2024, improving the average pace by almost 3 tenths per lap. With a time of 1’40.351, he also set a new best race lap, lowering Joe Roberts’ previous record by almost 7 tenths.

· Three different choices for the three riders on the podium in Moto3™️: the winner José Antonio Rueda (KTM) started with medium SC2 at the front and soft SC1 at the rear. Second place Angel Piqueras (KTM) opted for a medium SC2 compound on both axles, while Joel Kelso (KTM), third, combined soft SC1 at the front and medium SC2 at the rear.

· On lap 12, Rueda set the new best race lap with 1’44.352, lowering Ryusei Yamanaka’s 2024 record by 7 and a half tenths. At the same distance (19 laps), the race was almost 12 seconds faster than last year, with an average improvement of more than 6 tenths per lap.

A convincing debut for the new SCX in Jerez
 
“Also in today’s race, the new supersoft SCX rear tyre garnered wide consensus among Moto2™️ riders, resulting in an almost unanimous choice for the race. Considering yesterday’s improvement of more than a second over the all-time lap record by Öncü, and the almost seven tenths improvement over the best race lap set today by Gonzalez, we can say we made a significant step forward with this tyre in terms of lap performance, with equally positive over-the-distance results: Gonzalez completed the 21 laps five seconds faster than last year’s race time. All the teams immediately felt the benefits of this new compound, and quickly adapted the bikes set-ups to exploit its characteristics. Nevertheless, there is still room for improvement. Given the results obtained at the debut and the extremely positive feedback collected, we can say that the introduction of the supersoft SCX was a winning choice, and it will certainly be interesting to propose it again in the future, on circuits suitable for this compound. We also saw excellent performances in Moto3™️, so much so that the race was significantly faster than last year, with the same laps. A curious thing to observe is how, in this class, the riders’ personal preference strongly affect the choice of tyres, with the first three riders adopting three different combos. We regard this positively, as it means that all the options we offered were valid, and allowed each rider to choose the solution that best suits their style freely, while still counting on high-performance and constant products.”