Catalunya Moto3: Alonso victorious as Holgado suffers late exit

David Alonso hit the front in as the frontrunners hit the final corner three abreast in a nailbiting finish to the Catalunya Moto3 Grand Prix.
David Alonso, Moto3 race, Catalunya MotoGP, 3 September
David Alonso, Moto3 race, Catalunya MotoGP, 3 September

Alonso spent the early part of the race ﷽working his way through from twelfth on the grid while Jaume Masia, Deniz Oncu and Daniel Holgado did the work leading the race out front in a tense start to the eleventh round of the championship.

The tailwind o🏅n the straight and overtaking allowed the 🎉Gaviota GasGas Aspar rider to make his own moves within the huge lead group, which only splintered into a lead fourteen over the last few laps.

Alonso had his own brief spell 𝐆in the lead on lap sixಞ, before sitting in behind, but never far from the man in first.

As so often in Moto3, the last lap of Montmelo proved crucial. It was championship l🐭eader Holgado who lead down the straight and over the line, before Jaume Masia made his move, taking over at the front by turn five.

 

As the corners counted down the group bunched up and the championship leader was swamped, pushing to stay in with a podium shout, he slipped off unaided at turn ten on the last lap, but remounted his Red Bul💙l KTM Tech3 bike in the hope of a point. It was not to be, crossing the line 22nd.

Back up front Masia was under pressure and soon saw David Munoz in contro🌳l - as the lead trio of  that du🍨o and Alonso came around the final bends they were in a line, with the win wide open and the line approaching.

The #80 threaded his bike through the smallest of gaps to win over the line by jus𓆉t 0.076s for ꦑhis second career win.

Masia held second after his determined run for Leopard Honda, but it was Deniz Oncu who crossed the line third after his swoop from behind on his Red Bull KTM saw him slide straight into the side of Munoz꧑ at turn fourteen, taking him out of the race.

The move was quickly investigated by race direction, and the Turkish rider was handed a 💛six second penalty, droppin🍸g him to twelfth. A dejected Oncu had his head in his hands, kicking the railings at the news.

That promoted his teammate in the Ajo outfit, rookie Jose Antonio Rueda, to his first eveﷺr podium finish.

Ayumu Sasaki  gained places late in the race and was on Rueda’s tai🦂l on track for fourth for Liqui Moly IntactGP, recovering well from his 13th place start.

Stefano Nepa also made gains and was as high as third briefly iꦕn the tight gro🥂up on his way to fifth for the Angeluss MTA Team.

Riccardo Rossi secured sixth for the SIC58 Squadra Corse team, just ahead of CIP Green Power’s Kaito Toba in seventh , while his compatriots, Leopard’s Tatsuki Suzuki and Aspar’s Ryusei Yജamanaka completed the top ten with Ivan Ortola, who launched from pole for the first time in his career, but faded in th♌e competitive pack.

Matteo Bertelle placed eleventh for Rivalcold Snipers, with♏ Oncu slotted into twelfh.

There was a gap back on track for 13th, with Xavier Artigas, who charged through from 22nd on his CFMoto bike just holding off Taiyo Furusato (Honda Team Asia) to the chequer𒁃ed flag.

Scott Ogden raced his way up to 15th as the best of the VisionTrack riders, but he was dem꧒oted a ܫplace for contact ealrier in the race when his move was reviewed, allowing Romano Fenati to pick up the final point.

The Rivacold rider had been ♏moved to the very back of the grid and handed an additional long lap penalty for irresponsible riding in Q2, deemed to have been riding slowly.


Front row starter Joel Kels𓂃o faded badly, finishing 18th ♔for CFMoto.


Crashes, injuries and replacements

There were two Moto3 wildc🌞ards in the Catalan race - Tachakorn Buasri (20th) for Honda Team Asia and David Almansa  with Finetwo🔥rk Intact GP in 24th.


With Holgado remounting, the only DNFs in the♋ race were for Munoz and Fillipo Farioli, who las🌜ted four laps.


Austria’s polesitter Collin Veijer was reclared unfit following his highside in qualifying.
 

Where does that leave the championship?

Holgado still leads but remains on 161 points after his fall, with his advantage cut to 13 points over Sasaki. Jaume Masia takes back over in third with 129 points afꦑter Oncu’s demotion with just a point between the pair.

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