Aragon Moto3: Foggia fights his way to victory as title rivals tumble

Dennis Foggia fought his way through from 14th on the grid to work hard in the lead group and then win his battle for first out front against Deniz Oncu for a fiesty victory in the Moto3 Aragon Grand Prix, round thirteen of the championship.

The Leopard man earned a track limits warning after needing a series of personal best laps to make up for a lacklustre Saturday. Keeping it neat up front, the Italian brought the fight to then-leader Oncu, with the pair battling all the way to the line.

The Italian shut the door with the chequered flag in sight to take his third win of the season, moving up to third in the championship standings in the process.

Oncu had to settle for second, with his first world championship win just eluding him againafter leading much of the race. The Red Bull KTM Ajo rider was unable to match the Leopard Honda’s straight line pace and finished 0.041s behind.

Sergio Garcia looked certain to slash Pedro Acosta’s championship lead. Sitting in third and with the win in his sights, he slid out of contention at turn twelve on the final lap. That let Acosta off the hook - he had already exited the race with four laps remaining taking Xavier Artigas with him after a risky move trying to make his bike fit in a hole which wasn’t there, his first big error of the season.

Ayumu Sasaki was able to pick up the pieces and claim his first rostrum visit of the year for Red Bull KTM Tech 3. He too had to spend the opening laps working his way into the lead group, where the Japanese rider then sat firm, keeping out of trouble and only moving into the podium battle in the closing stages.

Izan Guevara had a strong start to the weekend, but qualified down in 13th. The rookie found his form again to top the weather delayed, misty warm-up. The Aspar rider was too in contention after an up and down race - he dropped back to fourteenth after an early error saw him out wide, and had to do all the hard work again. The number 28 went off track once again on the final lap but still managed to finish fourth as both top rookie and GasGas rider.

Niccolo Antonelli too staged a comeback ride after falling back from his eighth placed start. The Avintia VR46 Academy rider worked his way though the field to fifth by the time he hit the finish line, a solid performance after picking up second last time out in Silverstone.

Andrea Migno lead briefly on his way to sixth for Rivacold Snipers, with Darryn Binder (Petronas Sprinta Racing), who started from pole, seventh. Stefano Nepa secured his best finish of the season in eighth for BOE Owlride.

Tatsuki Suzuki did all the hard work in qualifying moving up through Q1 for a front row start. His race day ended in ninth for SIC 58 Squdra Corse.

Jaume Masia, who won both races at MotorLand last year, completed the top ten for Red Bull KTM Ajo.

Ryusei Yamanaka (CarXpert PruestelGP ) made a late run into the points places, climbing to eleventh at the chequered flag.

He passed Adrian Fernandez who was twelfth for Sterilgarda Max Racing Team.

John McPhee moves to Moto2 for the weekend to fill in at Petronas for Jake Dixon. The team have employed the services of Syarifuddin Azman to sit in for the British rider. ‘Damok’ made up place in the final laps, while benefiting from the falls ahead to finish 13th on his debut.

Silverstone victor Romano Fenati was last after being forced to avoid the crashing Gabriel Rodrigo ahead of him, the Italian running through the gravel not to get caught up with either rider or bike. He rallied and made it back to 14th at the close of the race on the second Husqvarna entry.

Riccardo Rossi collected the final point in 15th on the second BOE entry.

Filip Salac was the first to exit, with Carlos Tatay and Jeremy Alcoba also failing to finish. Lorenzo Fellon was tenth and took a trip around the long lap penalty before he too saw his race day end early.