Sergio Garcia takes the victory he missed a week ago
Instead of sixth on the grid, Gabriel Rodrigo had to start the race from the pit lane as expected. The Argentine had brought down two Japanese on the same day and Yamanaka, one of the two, was even injured afterwards. Tatsuki Suzuki was the other, and he was on one of the fastest laps to date before Rodrigo pulled him out of the saddle. Fortunately, the Sic58 Squadra Corse Honda driver had already set the fastest time before that, which was only beaten by Romano Fenati afterwards. It was he who took the lead from pole position in the race. But in turn 4, Can Öncü took over from the Italian in the lead, with a Turk leading, before World Cup leader Pedro Acosta from Spain was ahead in Styria for the first time a little later.
The first falls
Turn 4 already meant the end for Andrea Migno in the first lap after a crash with Rivacold Sniper’s teammate David Salvador. The Italian was out for the fifth time this season. The next on the target corner was Ayumu Sasaki 10 after fighting in the top ten in a fight with Darryn Binder. While the race was over for the Japanese, the South African was not punished by the stewards afterwards, although his elbow was briefly visible. Brad’s brother, however, had been inside the curve and had therefore only wanted to keep Sasaki away.
The fight for victory
From the middle of the race, Sergio Garcia, Jaume Masia and Dennis Foggia were also involved in the fight for victory. Not far behind were John McPhee, Binder, Izan Guevara, Kaito Toba and Tatsuki Suzuki. The last three, however, were already more than 3 seconds behind and had little chance of a podium, but in Moto3 you never know in advance what will happen before the chequered flag. Sometimes three KTM were at the top, which one could hardly expect in the premier class in the afternoon, despite a lot of orange in the stands. Towards the end, it was clear that only the first six drivers were still eligible for victory. McPhee, Binder and the like were already too big a backlog. It was Garcia, who was ahead of Öncü in the end, followed by Foggia, Acosta, Fenati, Masia and McPhee.
Acosta’s missed podium and the conciliatory end for Garcia and Öncü
The world championship leader almost went off the track in the last lap in turn 4 and thus missed another podium after his triumph a week ago. But of course this result did not change much in his World Cup leadership, which is unlikely to have annoyed the young Spaniard for long. For Sergio Garcia and Deniz Öncü it was a conciliatory end to the double race in Austria. The Spaniard had led to the penultimate corner in the first run a week ago when Acosta had stabbed him inside, and he crashed on the damp outside lane and still finished second in the end. In the first race, the Turk had the misfortune of having to start out of the pit lane due to a mistake by his crew. His tire change had been tackled too late and not finished before the three-minute table.
Max Kofler and the other losers of the race
As the second to last of the classified drivers, the local hero was not the only loser at the Moto3 GP in Austria. After starting from the front row, Tatsuki Suzuki could not be satisfied with the outcome of the race either. In addition to the fallen, Stefano Nepa and Gabriel Rodrigo were also among the defeated after a good starting position. Even pole setter Fenati, as the 2019 winner, was of course anything but happy with the outcome of the race, after the experienced Italian had been in the top group from the start and had crossed the finish line in the lead five times. Deniz Öncü had completed most of the laps as a leader. After all, he was compensated with second place and thus the second podium after Barcelona.
The eleventh race of the season in numbers
The Moto3 World Championship stand after round 11
P, Rider, Bike, Nat, Points
1, Pedro ACOSTA, KTM, SPA, 196
2, Sergio GARCIA, GASGAS, SPA, 155
3, Romano FENATI, Husqvarna, ITA, 107
4, Dennis FOGGIA, Honda, ITA, 102
5, Jaume MASIA, KTM, SPA, 95
6, Darryn BINDER, Honda, RSA, 86
7, Ayumu SASAKI, KTM, JPN, 68
8, Niccolò ANTONELLI, KTM, ITA, 67
9, Kaito TOBA, KTM, JPN, 62
10, Jeremy ALCOBA, Honda, SPA, 60
11, Gabriel RODRIGO, Honda, ARG, 59
12, Andrea MIGNO, Honda, ITA, 58
13, John MCPHEE, Honda, GBR, 49
14, Izan GUEVARA, GASGAS, SPA, 46
15, Deniz ÖNCÜ, KTM, TUR, 45
16, Filip SALAC, KTM, CZE, 44
17, Tatsuki SUZUKI, Honda, JPN, 43
18, Ryusei YAMANAKA, KTM, JPN, 37
19, Xavier ARTIGAS, Honda, SPA, 30
20, Jason DUPASQUIER, KTM, SWI, 27
21, Stefano NEPA, KTM, ITA, 22
22, Riccardo ROSSI, KTM, ITA, 16
23, Adrian FERNANDEZ, Husqvarna, SPA, 16
24, Yuki KUNII, Honda, JPN, 15
25, Carlos TATAY, KTM, SPA, 14
26, Maximilian KOFLER, KTM, AUT, 10
27, Elia BARTOLINI, KTM, ITA, 7
28, Andi Farid IZDIHAR, Honda, INA, 3
29, Daniel HOLGADO, KTM, SPA, 1
The combined calendar for MotoGP and WorldSBK
In red letters are the collisions in which, especially in the first three cases, the simultaneous implementation of the MotoGP with the WSBK causes enormous damage to the latter. Hardly any broadcaster is likely to broadcast the WSSP and Superbike World Championship races live. Especially the Malaysian GP in Sepang, WorldSBK Mandalika (Indonesia) and San Juan (Argentina) are still questionable. In this respect, a few more changes in the permanently provisional and chaotic calendar of FIM & Dorna can be expected.
Unless otherwise stated, this applies to all images (© MotoGP).
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