Surprising winner leaves it all 0n the track to claim first victory of 2022.
Ahead of the race, the maiden pole of Izan Guevara was taken and given to Ayuma Sasaki. Izan Guevara, Dennis Foggia and Tatsuki Suzuki were all given penalties- a long lap penalty and being put at the back of the grid- for irresponsible riding. Foggia, though, has two long lap penalties for another incident of irresponsible riding. While it is unfortunate, starting at the back of the grid does not mean that they are going to perform poorly or are guaranteed to lose- it will just take more work.
With Sasaki in pole position, he gets the perfect holeshot through the first corner, followed by Jaume Masia and Andrea Migno. Sergio Garcia nudged out Carlos Tatay, who crashed in result of the push. The incident immediately goes under investigation.
Izan Guevara makes great progress from the back, sitting in 15th just after the first lap. He will lose positions during his long lap penalty. He needs to make up all the places he can.
What’s unique about this race is the fact that Sasaki is still alone in his lead of the race. While this is common in Moto2 and MotoGP, Moto3 very rarely has this situation in play. The giant battle for second is actually giving Sasaki more room to breath. They are holding each other up from catching up to him.
Matteo Bertelle also gets a penalty for- double long lap- for jumping the start.
While Guevara and Suzuki has served their penalties, Foggia still needs to take one more long lap penalty.
The experienced KTM’s of Masia and Deniz Oncu are in 3rd and 4th, respectively.
In result of the incident with Tatay, Garcia has a long lap penalty. Lorenzo Fellon and Tatsuki Suzuki are in an incident where the Leopard Honda rider takes out Fellon. Suzuki will most likely have a penalty coming his way.
Kaito Toba, who has been hanging on the backs of the KTM, takes a late lunge through Masia and holds it.
While the battle for 3rd is raging between five different riders, Andrea Migno is in a comfortable and consistent 2nd place. At this point, Sasaki has a 2.3 second lead on the second group.
Deniz Oncu waves his arm to Kaito Toba to calm down so the second group can bridge the gap between themselves and Sasaki. It’s ironic that Oncu is asking for peace- considering the fact that he is usually the most aggressive rider. Even with that request, Toba overtakes the two KTM’s and Andrea Migno. He gets swallowed back into 4th through the slipstream, though, showing where the power really comes from.
Taking a look at some of the other riders down the grid, Sergio Garcia has made his way into 8th place with Izan Guevara in an impressive 12th position. Deniz Oncu falls back to 10th place after a failed attempt at lunging past Masia.
And in a completely separate incident, Masia does end up crashing out of the opening grand prix of the season.
With 8 laps to go, Sasaki is beginning to lose a lot of time each sector- his over 3 second lead coming down to only 1 second. It’s clear that something has happened to him, but it’s unclear what it is yet.
After further investigation, it’s clear that his faring has come apart after saving his highside. When a rider has a loose faring, they cannot race at full potential- which means that his win is out the window.
Andrea Migno sweeps past him and takes the race lead. Sasaki continues to watch watch riders past him as he tries to get back into the pits.
With Sasaki out of the question, who will the race win go to?
As the gap between the two groups begin to close, Foggia and Guevara are closing in. There isn’t enough time for them to make their way to the lead, but they will get more points.
With 4 laps to go, Migno is still in the lead, followed by Garcia and Oncu. I wouldn’t put it past Toba to make a surprise appearance, though.
On the last lap, it’s clear it’s going to end up being a race for 2nd and 3rd. Migno is so solid, it’s especially impressive.
Toba takes 2nd place, but Garcia swoops in and takes it back quickly. Oncu is down in 4th, taking a look up the inside of Toba. But, in the end, it is Toba who takes third!
Andrea Migno takes the win, followed by Garcia.
What a race! It was truly an epic start to the season, with action and drama, per usual to Moto3.
We’ll see if this keeps up for the next race and if Migno will continue to flourish.
See you in Indonesia.
