San Marino Moto3: Foggia back in title hunt with home win, black flag for Garcia

Dennis Foggia brought himself back into the championship race after winning the San Marino Grand Prix in Misano.

Updated: 06 Jan 2023

Dennis Foggia, Moto3 race, San Marino MotoGP, 4 September

Dennis Foggia came out on top in the four way battle for the win in the Moto3 San Marino Grand Prix, as round fourteen of the championship saw him reignite his title charge.

The Leopard rider started seventh on the grid but had fought his way to the front of the lead group and podium places after three laps.

The Italian then switched around at the front of the race with Izan Guevara. As the bunch of riders at the front expanded and contracted at the front the #7 made sure he was always present and well placed.

The lead four pulled clear, with the podium finishers coming from the quartet. Foggia benefitted from the other three riders fighting for position and that allowed him some breathing space up front, easing over the line by 0.289s on the Honda despite lacking tyre grip in the closing laps.

Foggia becomes the first Moto3 rider to win three races at one circuit after a double win last season showed his ability around the track. He celebrated by throwing his gloves into the crowd and was last to parc ferme after running out of fuel as he soaked in the win.

Behind, it was Jaume Masia who claimed second for Red Bull KTM Ajo, just ahead of Guevara, who did much of the hard work out front and whose pace allowed the riders who could keep up to break at the front, in third for Gaviota GasGas Aspar.

Polesitter Deniz Oncu was fast over one lap to start the race from the top slot on the grid, but concerns over his ability to go the race distance due to his training accident meant he was fighting the pain barrier all the way.

The Turkish rider rallied mid-race after dropping back and bridged the gap to be in with a chance of victory, but it was not to be again, his huge lunge from the back of the group allowed Foggia a gap and prevented Masia from making the line he had just lined up for the lead.

The brave Red Bull KTM Tech3 rider was a close fourth and back in the pits was in so much pain he needed assistance to remove his helmet.

Daniel Holgado was the top rookie finisher. Starting from the front row he couldn’t quite keep pace with the final split in the pack for the podium places so finished fifth completing a strong result for the Red Bull KTM Ajo team.

Tatsuki Suzuki circulated with Holgado and finished sixth on the second Leopard entry.

The battle for seventh went all the way to the line with Diogo Moreira taking the position for MT Helmets - MSI just ahead of Izan Ortola who came through from 26th on the grid for eighth for the Angeluss MTA team.

The Spaniard was in turn just ahead of John McPhee who dropped to the back of the group and fought back for ninth on the Sterilgarda Husqvarna Max Racing bike.

Stefano Nepa completed the top ten for the Angeluss MTA Team.

Riccardo Rossi (SIC58 Squadra Corse) was right behind him in eleventh, David Munoz (BOE Motorsports) twelfth while Ryusei Yamanaka found himself shuffled to the back of that pack in 13th on the second MT Helmets MSI bike.

Joel Kelso also made a big run through the field - from 30th on the grid, the Australian came back for 14th for CIP Green Power.

The final point on offer went to Elia Bartolini (QJMotor Avintia Racing Team), who was two seconds further down the track.

Wildcard Harrison Voight was 23rd for SIC58 Squadra Corse.

Poor qualifying leads to trouble for both Sasaki and Garcia

Ayumu Sasaki was cautious in qualifying which landed the Sterilgarda Husqvarna Max rider in 17th. Being further down the grid meant the Japanese rider needed the kind of heroics he displayed last race, where he bounced back to win after taking two trips down the penalty loop.

A double fightback was not to be - he was hit from behind by Nicola Fabio Carraro ending his race before it begun.

Sergio Garcia was slightly ahead on the grid, sitting in 13th. The GasGas Aspar rider was keen, maybe too keen, to pull those positions back as the frontrunners pushed on. He started by being forced wide and off track, heading up the shortcut. He was not penalised as he was judged not to have made any gains from the incident by race direction.

As that was announced he became his own saboteur having worked back to eighth and fighting for seventh he hit the back of Oncu and dropped back to ninth. That was swiftly followed by a front end fold at turn four.

The Spaniard rejoined but started racing with the group that were fighting for 7th to 13th so was shown the black flag.

Crashes and penalties

No other penalties were issued other then Garcia’s black flag . The duo were not alone in enjoying an early exit.

Joshua Whatley crashed before the race had started, falling at turn 6 on the sighting lap. He finished 24th and was the top VisionTrack bike after his team-mate Scott Ogden came into the pits with an issue before returning to the track for 25th.

Andrea Migno was the first to fall in the race, followed by Mario Aji. Carlos Tatay also failed to go the distance.

Where does that leave the championship?

Izan Guevara now leads the overall standings on 204 points after his podium finish, with team-mate Garcia now 5 points behind after his crash and disqualification.

Dennis Foggia brings himself into play. After picking up the full 25 points on offer he had reduced his defecit to the lead to 35 points. Ayumu Sasaki’s crash sees Jaume Masia back in fourth now 57 points adrift.