Moto3 Catalunya: Breakaway tactics bring win for Guevara

Izan Guevara was able to use his solo pace to pull away and win the Moto3 Catalunya Grand Prix

Updated: 06 Jan 2023

Izan Guevara, Moto3 race, Catalunya MotoGP, 5 June

Izan Guevara was able to take advantage of hitting the front, employing his solo pace to pull away at and win the Moto3 Catalan Grand Prix.

Round nine belonged to the Valresa GasGas Aspar rider, who took his second victory of the season in dominant style.

Sitting in the lead group, which had splintered and reformed already following Dennis Foggia’s exit and a three-way crash, the home hero hit the front at the beginning of lap fifteen and immediately looked to pull out a gap, working hard to get a half a second lead at the end of the lap.

His team-mate Sergio Garcia saw his move and looked to bridge the gap but got swamped in a battle for second.

The rare Moto3 breakaway left Garcia to claim his third career win, by 1.975s, with Aspar finishing their 500th Grand Prix with victory.

The duel behind went all the way to the wire with three riders pulling away. After battling up from 20th on the grid, with a huge main group over the opening laps aiding his progress, it was rookie David Munoz who claimed second in just his second grand prix start.

Joining the paddock in Mugello after turning sixteen, the BOE Motorsports rider had already made an impact there slicing his way though to eleventh.

This time he, along with most of the frontrunners before Guevara’s break, lead the race briefly and put in a series of mature overtakes to sit in second at the start of the final lap, holding onto position on the KTM as the trio reached the chequered flag.

Third went to Tatsuki Sauzuki who rode as wildly as necessary to take the final spot, going for a last corner lunge to be able to take advantage of his Leopard Honda’s straight line speed to the line.

Garcia found himself raced out of the podium places, finishing fourth.

Deniz Oncu lead the chasing group over the line in fifth for Red Bull KTM Tech3 after putting in his own work at the front earlier in the race.

The Turkish rider pulled out his own small gap on Carlos Tatay, who had also made huge moves from 18th on the grid to claim sixth for CFMOTO Racing PruestelGP.

An exhausted John McPhee held on for seventh for Steilgarda Max Racing, with Jaume Masia recovering from 14th on the grid to run with the leaders briefly before finishing just behind the Brit in eighth.

Riccardo Rossi (SIC58 Squadra Corse) had crossed the line ninth, but both he and Lorenzo Fellon failed to comply with their in-race long lap penalty, so both were handed a three second time penalty instead.

That promoted Adrian Fernandez to ninth, an impressive finish given he was yet another rider to underperform in qualifying, starting 24th for Red Bull KTM Tech3 after he also led briefly.

Xavier Artigas was directly in front of him on the grid in 21st but finished just behind to complete the top ten on the second CFMOTO entry.

Rossi was dropped to eleventh, with Joel Kelso crossing the line a distant twelfth for CIP Green Power.

The Remaining points on offer went to Matteo Bertelle (QJ Motor Avintia Racing) in 13th, Scott Ogden, the best of the VisionTrack riders in 14th and Kaito Toba who remounted after his fall to take 15th on the second CIP entry.

Foggia’s return to Catalunya ends in disater again

Dennis Foggia had a trip to Barcelons to forget last season and in 2022, his fortunes were no better.

Polesitter Dennis Foggia had displayed fast solo pace all weekend and lead the opening laps, using that speed to beat off his slipstreaming rivals.

When the Italian was passed by team-mate Suzuki he dropped into the pack. Fighting for position, the chain came loose on his Leopard and was visibly dangling down, a rare mechanical for the team.

That meant Foggia picked up his second DNF in a row at just the moment he needed to stage a fightback as the Aspar boys saw more success at the front of the race, denting his title hopes for another year.

Where does that leave the championship table?

Sergio Garcia arrived in Spain with a comfortable 28 point lead over Guevara, more than a race win.

Aspar still enjoy a 1-2 in the championship with Garcia’s lead now cut to after Guevara’s win, now on a total of 150. His 25 point haul moves Guevara onto 134, with eighth place masia thier nearest rival on 103. Foggia remains fourth after his DNF on 95.

Fogggia was not the only one not to see the end of the race. There was some Montmelo madness on lap eight when Ryusei Yamanaka tried to make his bike fit on the inside, running into Ayumu Sasaki’s replacement, David Salvador. Daniel Holgado was collected in the aftermath.

One lap later Honda Team Asia lost both of thier riders in quick succession, first Mario Aji hit the gravel, with Taiyo Furusato not far behind.

Joshua Whatley, Andrea Mino and Marcos Uriarte, replacing Alberto Surra at Snipers, all also failed to go the distance.

Diogo Moreira attempted FP1 but withdrew from the weekend due to the pain in his wrist.He is not replaced.