Moto3 title contender Matteo Bertelle suffers big injury blow

The MTA Moto3 team have announced that title contender Matteo Bertelle will miss this weekend’s Qatar Grand Prix after suffering an injury.

Italian rider Bertelle has made a strong start to the 2025 season with the MTA squad, fighting for the podium in all three races so far and breaching the rostrum for the first time last time out at the Americas Grand Prix.

Bertelle was 4.2s from runaway winner Jose Antonio Rueda, while MTA team-mate Joel Kelso was around two seconds further up the road.

The solid start to the year for the 21-year-old has put him into fourth in the standings on 40 points, level with Adrian Fernandez and just 26 off championship leader Rueda.

But his early title hopes have taken a significant knock after suffering fractures to his arm and leg at the weekend in an undisclosed incident, according to the team.

As a result, he will not race this weekend at the Qatar GP.

“On Sunday, 06/04/2025, our rider #18 Matteo Bertelle was involved in an accident that resulted in a fracture of the right tibia and the left humerus,” a brief statement from the MTA team said.

“He is currently still hospitalised for further examinations by the medical team.

“We are confident that he will recover soon and look forward to seeing him back on track.

“We confirm that he will not be present at the Qatar GP.”

Bertelle didn’t have a fruitful Qatar Grand Prix in the Moto3 class last year, as he failed to make the finish while a rider for the Snipers Team.

Last year’s race at Lusail was won by eventual Moto3 champion David Alonso, with his current Moto2 team-mate Dani Holgado shadowing him in second.

In Moto3 in 2025, Rueda has emerged as the early strong favourite to win the title having taken two victories from the first three races.

Angel Piqueras has the other win so far, which came at the Argentina Grand Prix.