Japanese Moto3: Guevara turns weekend around for back to back wins

Izan Guevara didn’t have a perfect start to his weekend but worked his way to the front to take his second win in a row in the Moto3 Japanese Grand Prix at Motegi.

Lisa Lewis

Updated: 06 Jan 2023

Izan Guevara, Moto3 race, Japanese MotoGP, 25 September

Izan Guevara bounced back after a less than perfext start to his weekend to win the Moto3 Japanese Grand Prix at Motegi.

Riding high after a dominant win at Aragon, where he lead from start to finish, things were certainly not going all the Autosolar GasGas Aspar riders way in Japan.

The number 28 started his day with a warm-up crash, hitting John McPhee hard and destroying his bike.

Qualifying ninth, with bike rebuilt, he immediately set about fighting his way forward to hit the front before the end of the first lap, after Tatsuki Suzuki and Sergio Garcia briefly lead the way.

As the lead group settled it was Ayumu Sasaki who pushed to lead, taking over on occasion.

With four laps remaining Guevara saw his chance, his push for the front happened to be timed perfectly to take advantage of Sasaki, Dennis Foggia and Jaume Masia all fighting for position.

The Spaniard held his gap at just over half a second, with Masia pushing so hard to try and prevent his break that he fell chasing.

Win number five of the season gave Guevara his second set of back-to-back victories this season as he extends his lead in the title hunt.

Behind, it was Foggia who crossed the line second for Leopard, unable to bridge the gap, 0.593s behind.

Sterilgarda Husqvarna Max rider Sasaki felt his tyres fading massively in the closing stages, but still held on for a home podium, the first Japanese rider to do so since 2009.

Sergio Garcia lead the chasing group for much of the race after fading away from the lead group. He was challenged over the closing laps with David Munoz, Diogo Moreira and John McPhee all briefly holding the position.

The previous championship leader saw his title hopes drifting further away, so closed the race with some aggressive riding to finish fourth on the second Aspar entry.

The group crossed the line almost ten seconds behind race winner Guevara, withMunoz completing his comeback from 16th on the grid as he fought back to finish fifth for BOE Motorsports, narrowly ahead of fellow rookie Moreira (MT Helmets - MSI) in sixth, with McPhee (Sterilgarda Husqvarna Max) jonly ust the last of them to the flag in seventh.

There was a gap back to Ryusei Yamanaka on the second MT Helmets entry, who took eighth at home.

He came through with Andrea Migno (Rivacold Snipers) who placed ninth, with Riccardo Rossi doing enough to complete the top ten for SIC58 Squadra Corse.

Xavier Artigas (CFMoto Racing PruestelGP) worked his way back up to eleventh, ahead of Stefano Nepa in twelfth for the Angeluss MTA Team.

The remaning points went to Ivan Ortola (Angeluss MTA Team) in 13th , Taiyo Furusato (Honda Team Asia) in 14th and Dennis Oncu, who kept his perfect points record thanks to the fall ahead after running wide at the start of the race for Red Bull KTM Tech3 as he battled pain as well as the field after hurting his finger in a crash earlier in the day in warm-up.

Crashes and penalties

The race was a crash peppered spectacle from start to finish, due to the nature of the track which lacked grip after Saturdays downpour.

Joel Kelso and Joshua Whatley were first out at turn nine, with Carlos Tatay and Kaito Toba only lasting a corner longer.

Kanta Hamada, in for Alberto Surra at Snipers was next out of the race, quickly followedby Daniel Holgado.

Tatsuki Suzuki slid out of the lead group on lap six, with Adrian Fernandez sliding out in a similar manner right behind. He rejoined for 18th.

Scott Ogden ran wide onto the gravel, but stayed upright after already dropping out of the points places after qualifying second. The VisionTrack rider finished 20th.

Niccolo Carraro, Lorenzo Fellon also crashed out of contention

Everyone on a long lap warning for track limits avoided a penalty.