A heavily penalized round at the German GP, new standards are set as a rookie continues his reign in Moto3
Sunday morning begins with the promise that Race Direction will be all over the Moto3 riders, watching closely for incidents and battles alike.
Darryn Binder, who qualified in 18th after being black flagged out of Q2, is given an additional long lap penalty for the incident. While long lap penalties do not mean that he will finish the race low on the trot, it does make it harder for Binder to do well.
Race Start
Fillip Salac get’s away from the line well, followed by Taito Koba and John McPhee. Salac is swallowed up and falls to 4th while Tatsuki Suzuki and Toba swap first place. Our championship leader Pedro Acosta makes his up to 9th place, desperate to further his championship lead. Dennis Foggia is in an unsafe 3rd, bike already wobbling against the track. Adrian Fernandez ends his race early with a crash at Turn 1.
With 24 laps to go, Binder takes his controversial long lap penalty.
Acosta also makes his way up to 3rd from the middle of the grid, yet again.
Yuki Kunii crashes out at Turn 13, being slightly nudged my Jaume Masia.
20 Laps to Go
With 20 laps to go, Masia is given a long lap penalty after the incident with Kunii. While the contact may not have been intentional, Race Direction has promised to be harder on the Moto3 boys.
Foggia is leading the race with Acosta following closely behind, waiting for any chance to take the lead. Toba and Suzuki battle it out for the remaining spots on the podium, Andrea Migno barely out of the reach for the podium action. While Suzuki is doing exceptionally well, considering his four DNF’s of the season, he cannot seem to stop Acosta from taking 2nd. There is something about the track that suits his wild riding style. On the other hand, the race leader Foggia looks very strong. He hasn’t done necessarily bad in the recent races, but he does need to continue to prove himself and fight, especially after the DNF last weekend.
Gabriel Rodrigo, who has suffered from monster crashes all weekend, crashes out of the race from Turn 5. Thankfully, he hits the air fence and is able to get up instantly, but he must be hurting.
Elia Bartolini exceeds track limits and has to do a long lap penalty run.
With 15 laps to go, there is a multiple rider collision between Deniz Oncu, Lorenzo Fellon, and Yamanaka, but was initiated by Romano Fenati.
On the same lap, our pole-man Salac turns away into the pits.
Just two laps later, there is another multiple rider collision as well as an individual crash by Masia, who was tapped by Foggia. The multiple rider collision involved Yamanaka, Fenati and Nepa. Is it the heat eating up the tires, or the Moto3 riders trying to climb the points? Foggia is almost certainly going to get a long lap penalty, as well as Fenati, if the record of Race Direction says anything about it.
10 Laps to Go
With 10 laps to go, Suzuki is leading the race with Foggia and Acosta just behind him. It is announced that no further actions will be taken on behalf of the Foggia and Masia incident. Acosta is doing well maintaining his 2nd-3rd place, but suffers when he leads the race. He appears shakier and almost nervous as he does so. The confidence that riders need to be able to lead races successfully does come with time.
The incident involving Fenati, Yamanaka and Nepa is to be investigated further after the race.
Fenati has a long lap penalty for his involvement in the first incident.
It’s hard to believe that Migno and Garcia don’t have something up their leathers for the last laps of the race. They are maintaining positions just outside of the main pack, which is constantly changing. If Garcia can get ahead of Acosta and stay there, then the championship lead will come down.
Foggia holds almost a half second lead ahead of Acosta and the rest of the pack, the largest he’s had during the entire race.
At the end of the main pack, Jeremy Alcoba is showing that he has the power to take a podium position.
It looks like it’s going to come down to how strong Foggia can remain and if Acosta can find it in him to fight back. The final podium position is up in the air between the man in 3rd and the man in 7th. Who will make it on top?
Final Lap
Acosta leads the pack with Foggia right behind him. Alcoba has to drop a single position after nudging Garcia down to 6th place and after exceeding track limits. Acosta is suffering from multiple moments on his front end while Foggia, who has lead most of the race, falls down to 4th place.
It’s anyone’s game as the top seven riders are all able to win. It’s about who has the tire to make the final push.
And Acosta takes the win!
Toba, who seemed to have come out of nowhere, takes 2nd place.
The man who finished in 3rd, Jeremy Alcoba, will not hold that position after not following through with his penalty.
Acosta now holds the championship lead by over 50 points ahead of Garcia. Is anyone going to stop him from completely sweeping everyone off of their bikes?
Alcoba has to drop a position for failing to do so on the last lap. That would mean Foggia took 3rd, but Alcoba is not budging away from parc ferme. It takes another few moments for him to leave so Foggia can take 3rd.
This is just the beginning of Race Direction’s strict rules for Moto3. They promised that they would be harsh following Jason’s death and the tactic from Catalunya, and after the multiple long lap penalties given today, I don’t doubt it. Now, if the riders will listen, that’s a different story.
So, what’s next? In one weeks time we make our way to the Dutch TT, which is the last race before the longest summer break.
Will anyone be able to stop Acosta, or will his reign just go on?
Tune in next week to find out.
