Italian Moto3: Outstanding Oncu back on pole in Mugello

Deniz Oncu took his second pole of the season ahead of round eight of the championship - the Moto3 Italian Grand Prix - after placing himself perfectly on track to gain a speed advantage and the top spot in the session.

The Red Bull KTM Tech3 rider expertly left himself enough of a marker in front to chase down, while also working out a slipstream advantage from his team-mate Daniel Holgado. That helped down the long final straight to set a best of 1m 56.811s, climbing from fourth as the session headed into the final minute.

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Oncu is set to become the first rider with two pole starts under his belt this season in a competitive year for the top spot on the grid (Izan Guevara did finish qualifying top twice but was then handed a penalty so did not take up his position).

Rookie Holgado made the most of his time on track with the Turkish rider to pull up from tenth to second on his final run for his first front row start. The Spaniard came close to sneaking pole - just 0.097s slower on his last lap.

The third and final place on that front row goes to Dennis Foggia. The Leopard rider showed he is one to watch on race day after completing every single one of his laps unaided, still managing third for Leopard. 

The home hero and winner in 2021 finished as top Honda after he made a massive effort to leave the pits late along with team-mate Tatsuki Suzuki and John McPhee to try and avoid the attention of the rest of the field, searching for a tow. 

Sergio Garcia left it late to climb from thirteenth to fourth, surpassing his Valresa GasGas Aspar colleague Guevara, who was first out of the pits.

McPhee had red sectors and was looking set for the top three on his final lap before both Ryusei Yamanaka and Jaume Masia compromsied his line as they realised they were not going to gain a slipstream and go faster, leaving the Sterilgarda Max Racing rider sixth.

Diogo Moreira was another late improver climbing up to seventh for MT Helmets MSI.

He is joined on the third row by Riccardo Rossi (SIC 58 Squadra Corse) in eighth and Yamanaka, who will sit in ninth on the grid on the second MT Helmets entry after moving up from Q1 so confident of his timesheet topping lap he sat out the final minutes of the session.

The other rider to roll off their final lap around McPhee, Jaume Masia, had done enough beforehand to complete the top ten on the remaining Red Bull Ajo entry.

Suzuki didn’t benefit from trying to run on a different schedule and ended his day in eleventh, just ahead on times from Q1 graduate Lorenzo Fellon (SIC 58 Squadra Corse) in twelfth.

Scott Ogden was back in the automatic Q2 paces after FP3 and the best of Michal Laverty’s VisionTrack riders in 14th.

David Munoz begins his Moto3 journey

David Munoz  finally got to put on a show - having turned sixteen during the Le Mans weekend, he is now eligible to race. 

Immediately having an impact, he left it late to move into Q2 - stealing the last graduation slot away from Adrian Fernandez.

He went on to start Q2 positively, and has experience of the track - last year he won one of the two Red Bull Rookies Cup races at the track (the other went to fellow 2022 world championship rookie Taiyo Furusato) allowing him to be aware of the slipstream tactics needed.

Munoz went on to finish his debut qualifying session in 15th for BOE Motorsports, ahead of Qatar race winner and title contender Andrea Migno.

Q1 began with Alberto Surra crashing at turn five on his out lap, on his return after his Austin accident.

That leaves the Rivacold rider last on the grid , behind the struggling Ana Carrasco and VisionTrack’s Joshua Whatley, who cut chunks out of his time but was still down in 27th.

Ayumu Sasaki was declared unfit to ride following his practice crash which saw him highside and then hit by Jaume Masia. The Japanese rider was taken to hospital and diagnosed with concussion and two broken collarbones, ending his race weekend.

Last time in Mugello

The Moto3 Italian Grand Prix weekend in 2021 was a sombre affair as qualifying was the session which saw the fatal crash that sadly took the life of  Jason Dupasquier.

In the aftermath it was Tatsuki Suzuki who ended the red flagged session on pole, with a lap record.

Dennis Foggia took a subdued win at home, slipping past Romano Fenati, who was brought into a battle instead for second, while the Leopard rider gapped Masia enough to hold on for for the win.

The Spaniard took second, with Fenati swamped and forced back to sixth - Gabriel Rodrigo came through to complete the podium, with all riders dedicating their performance to Dupasquier as they waited for news on his condition.