San Marino Moto3: Alonso seizes opportunity for late Misano win

David Alonso took the third win of his rookie season as he saw a gap late on the last lap and took it, to finish round twelve with back to back victories at the Moto3 San Marino Grand Prix.

From sixth on the grid, the the Gaviota GasGas rider was sat in the group chasing Jaume Masia, who had made an early break for the win from pole.

The Colombian went with Deniz Oncu, who chased down the #5 and was a feature at the front, keeping good position to take advantage should anything happen out front.

That opportunity knocked, a small error from then leader Oncu at the start of the final lap coupled with Masia’s bike wobbling everywhere as he tried a late move from a distance into turn 14, saw the duo pushing each other wide and left rookie Alonso able to fire his Aspar bike up the inside for his third win, adding to his top step visits in Silverstone and last week in the Catalan race.

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Masia had lead the first half of the race, only Ayumu Sasaki was briefly ahead of him after a lightning start. The Leopard Honda rider accepted his fate as Oncu reeled him in and was not afraid to put in a late lunge for the win. That didn’t pay off but did allow him to finish second, almost getting enough slipstream to the line but finishing just 0.036s behind.

The final podium spot went to Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Oncu. The Turkish rider was ahead for the second half of the race and looked to have a plan aboard his KTM to avoid a rival getting a tow to the line. A small error late on as his tyres lost grip rapidly after the chase, coupled with trying to avoid Masia’s late lunge and bucking bike left Oncu third.

Of the lead pack it was David Munoz who missed out of a rostrum visit, saving a late wobble of his own to cross the line fourth for BOE Motorsports.

The pace at the front saw the lead four setting consecutive new best race laps as the rest of the pack struggled with the speed ahead.

Collin Veijer worked his way to the front of that lead group after starting down in tenth, finishing fifth for Liqui Moly Intact GP on the Husqvarna.

Kaito Toba couldn’t convert his surprise front row start into a podium, but did hold his own in the second group on track to seal sixth for SIC58 Squadra Corse in their home grand prix.

After his electric start Ayumu Sasaki faded back to seventh on the second Husqvarna bike.

Ivan Ortola required a comeback. After making up places early on from his 13th place on the grid, the Angeluss MTA rider found his bike entering a highside, which he saved. The Spaniard then had to avoid the back of Veijer as he returned from his run out wide. That saw him drop to 20th.

Chipping away he got to the front of the third group on track and left them to finish right on the tail of Sasaki for an impressive, hard earned, eighth.

Jose Antonio Rueda was right behind him at the line on the second Red Bull KTM Ajo bike in ninth while Romano Fenati recovered from outside the points places for a top ten finish for Rivacold Snipers.

Taiyo Furusato joined him in progressing forward in eleventh for Honda Team Asia, while MT Helmets - MSI’s Diogo Moreira faded back to twelfth.

The final points on offer went to 13th placed Stefano Nepa on the second Angeluss entry, Aspar’s Ryusei Yamanaka in 14th and Leopard’s Tatsuki Suzuki, who collected 15th.

Holgado finishes out of the points.

Championship leader Daniel Holgado had not looked to have the pace to run with the leaders all weekend and qualified down in eighth.

A good start saw the Red Bull KTM Tech 3 rider up to sixth, but from then on the #96 sank like a stone, with little answer to anyone who passed him.

Suzuki moving ahead on the penultimate lap saw him out of the points and over ten seconds off the lead. The gap behind meant he was safe from falling back any further with one lap remaining, but his title hopes took a huge dent with all of his main rivals ahead in the race.

Joshua Whatley remained the better of the VisionTrack riders, finishing ahead of Scott Ogden. The pair were 22nd and 23rd respectively.

Crashes, injuries and replacements

The only rider who fell in the race was Lorenzo Salvador, exiting on  lap two.There are currently no additional riders or replacements in Moto3.

Where does that leave the championship?

Only twenty-one points now cover the top five.

Holgado still leads the standings, remaining on 161 after not picking up a point. Sasaki’s damage limitation ride sees him move to just four points away. Podium finishers Masia and Oncu also close in - just 12 and 17 points behind respectively. Form rider Alonso who has picked up three of the last four wins brings himself into play on 140 points.