It was a breath taking race that saw more than half the grid eligible for a podium finish – but it was Albert Arenas (Angel Nieto Team), Fabio di Giannantonio (Del Conca Gresini) and Celestino Vietti (Sky Racing Team VR46) who relished in the moment and the champagne. Except for 17-year-old Vietti, who isn’t old enough to spray champagne, but then again, a podium on your second ever Moto3 race probably tastes sweeter than any bubbles ever could, and he raced hard for it.
For di Giannantonio it was a necessary podium. The Italian has been battered and bruised on just about every race weekend for the last 3 weeks, making this a much deserved second place finish. And the man of the moment, Arenas, took his second win of the season and this time around he truly earned it – whether you think his Le Mans victory was really di Giannantonio’s, or not.
This entire race was important for the Championship, two very important crashes happened, and a few near misses, have changed the course of this season. Firstly, Lorenzo Dalla Porta’s (Leopard Racing) crash meant that his team mate Enea Bastianini (Leopard Racing) could keep his fourth place in the Championship.
Then it was Gabriel Rodrigo’s (RBA BOE Racing Team) unfortunate collision with Championship contender Marco Bezzecchi that paved the way for Martin to extend his lead in the Championship beyond the one point that he started this weekend with. However, this wasn’t really the case, as there is only 12 points between the Italian and the Spaniard now, but it could have remained at just one point because luck seemed to be firmly on Martin’s side. He narrowly avoided two crashes/contact which could have seen both of their weekends reduced to null and avoid effectively.
However, it does beg the question – had di Giannantonio not had his Le Mans victory taken away from him, could he be leading the Championship right now? With 20 points between the Championship leaders, he definitely could have made life difficult for Martin and Bezzecchi after this week’s results.
The race itself saw real talent shining through from all riders as, the top 15 stayed particularly tight and positions were traded so often that the leader board couldn’t keep up with them. It was Tony Arbolino (Marinelli Snipers Team) and Denis Foggia (Sky Racing Team VR46) though showed potential for a podium finish, that was before they took each other out whilst vying for the top spot behind Martin.
But ultimately due to a constantly changing lineups, whether to do with crashes or overtaking, you found yourself rooting for half the grid at least once. This race has left the Championship wide open for the top three riders still, but it might have invigorated the rest of the grid as the majority of them got a taste of leading a race. With only two races to go, who could clinch the title between Martin, Bezzecchi or di Giannantonio?
Combining one of the most thrilling tracks and the most unpredictable classes, makes for very entertaining viewing. Moto3 is descending upon Phillip Island in Australia and it looks to be a promising one with defending champion Joan Mir no longer in Moto3, the win could be anyone’s.
As has been the case for the majority of this season, it’s Jorge Martin (Gresini) and Marco Bezzecchi (Prustel) who need to score big points as the 2018 season draws to a close soon. With just one point between them, Martin will be looking to extend his lead and Bezzecchi will be doing all he can to overtake Martin and clinch a possible Championship title.
The three Italians who make up 3rd-5thshouldn’t be overlooked as Fabio Di Giannantonio (Gresini) looks to come back from his awful Motegi high side (his participation at Phillip Island was hit or miss for a second). Enea Bastianini (Leopard Racing) is in 4thand will want to secure some much needed points (33 to draw level with Di Giannantonio) to make it to the top 3 in time for the season ending, and Lorenzo Della Porta (Leopard Racing) will want to continue to fine form he’s had and maybe step onto the podium once again.
However, the Island is formidable and when the weather is wreaking havoc with races, the wildlife can get in the way too. And both of these things can play a huge part in how makes it to the end of a race, let alone scores points. The possible wet weather will mean that the likes of Martin, who ride well in rainy conditions, have the chance to do well but T1 is arguable the fastest corner on the racing calendar so when all the riders pile into this corner first time round – it could catch a few riders out. It’s also been very cold the last few days, meaning that cold tyres will be something all riders need to be aware of.
There are 7 left hand corners (to 5 right hand corners) so the tyres should warm on all side relatively evenly but this could still catch riders out in the opening laps before their tyres are properly heated. And of course, it wouldn’t be a Phillip Island preview if the wildlife isn’t brought up. The main culprits are seagulls but other wildlife has wondered on track in the past, and it’s hard enough racing but dodging animals makes the AusGP a unique experience.
With 2018 bringing in the 29th Phillip Island GP, only Sunday will reveal whether it was the weather, wildlife or the own fault of the riders that messes up someone’s Grand Prix weekend.
The 14th round of Moto3 world championship proved to be a decisive one, as Marco Bezzecchi narrowed the gap between himself and the series leader Jorge Martin.
It was Martin (Del Conca Gresini) who stole the show, after a great start saw him create a sizeable gap between himself and the rest of the pack. This lead would be too much for the rest of the grid, but that made the fight for second all the more brutal.
On paper, Juame Masia (Bester Capital Dubai) should have been Martin’s closest rival as he started from second on the grid, but a cracked collarbone from a previous accident caused him to fall out of contention fast. Masia and Martin were the only two riders to start the race where they’d qualified, as all other riders were handed heavy penalties that saw the likes of Enea Bastianini (Leopard Racing) starting in 15th and Bezzecchi (Redox PruestelGP) in 18th. Ultimately it was Martin who soared to his sixth race win, Bezzecchi in second and Bastianini in third.
With Martin out in front, the next riders expected to perform well at the AragonGP were title rival Bezzecchi, Bastianini and teammate Fabio Di Giannantonio (Del Conca Gresini).
All three riders fought for to try and finish in the top three, but Marcos Ramirez (Bester Capital Dubai), Tatsuki Suzuki (SIC58 Squadro Corse) and Adam Norrodin (Petronas Sprinta Racing) also kept up with the group which failed to dissipate for the entire race. Unfortunately, Suzuki and Norrodin slipped back and weren’t able to finish in the top five, after securing sixth and eighth respectively.
Those two were propelled forward in the standings after Aron Canet (Estrell Galicia 0,0), who would have been looking to put in a good performance to sustain his rivalry with Martin, retired from the race with a shoulder injury. He fell out of the top ten and was lingering in 16th position when he decided to call it a day.
Gabriel Rodrigo (RBA BOE Skull Rider) also crashed out of podium contention when he got too close to Albert Arenas (Angel Nieto Team) and slid out of the race. He had been flirting with the top four but wasn’t fast enough to really pull away from the pack, instead trading places multiple times before his Aragon race came to an end.
With about eight laps to go, further penalties were handed to Vicente Perez (Reale Avintia Academy) and Dennis Foggia (Sky-VR|46) for exceeding track limits. They had to concede positions for gaining an advantage when riding wide of the track. Ultimately, it would be Perez who finished within the points after crossing the line in 14th. Niccolo Antonelli (SIC58 Squadro Corse) was the only other rider to crash out though, just before Rodrigo did on the penultimate lap.
It seemed to be a race of hard tactics. On several occasions the rider in second would attempt to pull away whilst the pack behind him was too preoccupied with the rider in third (Di Giannantonio, Ramirez, Bezzecchi and Bastianini). However, this tactic was often hampered due to the nature of the track, and didn’t work for longer than a few laps. The Motorland circuit is very physical due to several elevation changes, so in many ways this tactic would work to take the pressure off of the rider in second but only temporarily. Slipstreams are also very common on this track, so riders had to make the most of them whilst also defending their own.
Points-wise, this was a very good race for Bezzecchi, Bastianini and Di Giannantonio. Bezzecchi managed to make up valuable points on Martin, who is now 13 points ahead of him. This means that the Championship is still all to play for, between the Spaniard and the Italian, both of whom are moving up to Moto2 in 2019. Third overall in the standings is Di Giannantonio, who finished fourth in Aragon. He’s been a consistent rider but not to the levels of Martin and Bezzecchi which means he trails behind by 28 points. This is substantial but would only take a few podium finishes to level it. There is every chance that the Gresini rider could still cause Bezzecchi a few headaches before the season is over. In fourth, Bastianini is 17 points behind Di Giannantonio.
Taking third place in the race really helped elevate Bastianini enough so that he could break away from Canet in the standings. But all of this could change when Moto3 goes to Thailand in October.
Dalla Porta (centre) out-drags Jorge Martin (right) to the finish line.
Pole position on Saturday put Jorge Martin in prime position to take a sixth win of the season, and with his main title rival Marco Bezzecchi only qualifying sixth, the Spaniard had a good opportunity to reduce the points deficit he faced going into the 2018 Moto3 San Marino Rimini Riviera Grand Prix.
From the start, though, the race did not go entirely that way. It was a tough opening lap for Martin, who dropped to fourth by the end of it, and then to fifth by the end of lap two. He had dropped as far as sixth in the second lap, but passed Jaume Masia in the final corner to reclaim a top five spot.
Martin’s move caused a chain reaction. Masia reacted to Martin’s attack by opening the throttle harder and earlier to try and not lose another position down the straight or in turn one, but he lost the rear and high-sided. Aron Canet and Ayumu Sasaki got caught up with Masia, also falling, and then, with nowhere to go, both Enea Bastianini and Nicolo Bulega collected Canet and Sasaki and fell themselves. Thankfully, everyone involved was largely okay. Bulega and Bastianini both returned to their garages, whilst Canet and Sasaki went to the medical centre. Canet got away with no major injuries, whilst Sasaki came off the worst of everyone from the crash, suffering a broken arm.
This created a big gap between Martin in fifth and Adam Norrodin behind. The group of five which now convincingly led the race consisted of: Bezzecchi, Lorenzo Dalla Porta, Fabio Di Giannantonio, Gabriel Rodrigo and Jorge Martin. The quintet traded places amongst themselves for the remainder of the race, staying as a ten-wheeler almost the whole distance.
For the championship, the word “almost” is quite important. Marco Bezzecchi tipped into turn fifteen on the penultimate lap of the race leading from Jorge Martin, and looked good to win the race, after a strong home GP to that point. However, when he hit the bump in the middle of the corner, he lost the rear, and he fell off the low-side. His race was run, a fantastic ride up to then, but in a twenty-three lap race, you have to complete all twenty-three of them to stand a chance of scoring points, and for one error, Bezzecchi completed only twenty-one.
Jorge Martin contacted Bezzecchi when he fell, and was lucky to stay on himself. Somehow, the Spaniard only dropped to second place after the contact, behind Dalla Porta who led onto the final lap.
Despite all the position changes that had happened up to the final lap of the race, there was little change on the final lap.
Fabio Di Giannantonio, though, he passed Jorge Martin early in the lap to move into second, and made an attempt to pass Dalla Porta in the final corner. The pair ran wide, whilst Martin sat back, and got a good run through T16 to put himself in position to pass them by the line. However, Dalla Porta had enough momentum to fend off the #88, and took his first ever Grand Prix win.
It was the #48’s 48th start, a number chosen by the Italian because his grandmother was born in the year 1948, an aligning of planets that no doubt did not pass the 2016 Moto3 Junior World Champion by, and the numerical links to Shoya Tomizawa have not gone unnoticed, either. And the coincidental numbers did not end there: Dalla Porta won by 0.058 seconds, in the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli.
But the biggest thing Dalla Porta will take away from this victory is that he can win in Grand Prix. The way he did it, too, was very impressive, as Dalla Porta did not drop out of the top three between lap two and the end of the race. At the beginning of the weekend, Dalla Porta was announced to be remaining with the Leopard Honda team for 2019, and at the end of it he might have just announced himself as a title contender for next year as well.
After Bezzecchi’s penultimate lap crash, Jorge Martin’s second place is invaluable for his championship. Just one month ago he was going to Austria with the idea that a 28-point deficit in the championship to Bezzecchi would be not so bad, and two races later he is leading the title race by eight points, and with a track coming up next which could suit him and the Honda very well indeed. Not only did Martin out-score Bezzecchi by twenty points this weekend, but he also beat Fabio Di Giannantonio, taking four more points out of the Italian who might be the only rider outside of the top two who continues to have realistic hopes of the championship.
Di Giannantonio’s third place was his second podium in three races. This shows that he can be competitive on many tracks, but the problem for his championship is the twelfth place that lies in the middle. Not only that, but the way he arrived at that twelfth place – by being too aggressive. It’s becoming a characteristic of Di Giannantonio’s riding that he makes some arguably ‘over-the-limit’ moves, such as on Martin in Sachsenring which caused Fabio to crash. He got away with one in Misano, too, when he nearly cleaned out two riders in turn fourteen, although in the end he only cost himself positions.
Bezzecchi’s crash detached Gabriel Rodrigo from the group slightly, and he ended up a little bit adrift in fourth place by the end. However, the race itself of Rodrigo shows the step he has made this year. In the past, he would have lost the pace after five or ten laps, or he would have crashed. Perhaps the secret to this step by Rodrigo is found in his training partners for 2018, who are Jorge Martin and Maverick Vinales, two experts of race management.
Six-and-a-half seconds back of the lead was Jakub Kornfeil in fifth place, who had a pretty lonely race after the lap two crash, building a gap to the riders behind, and never really closing on the leaders.
Dennis Foggia was the first of those riders behind, and it was his best result of the season. He had a good weekend, too, and put himself in the right position to take advantage of the lap two crash. He couldn’t quite go with Kornfeil, especially towards the end when his times fell away which is becoming a bit of a trait of his races. But he kept hold of seventh place from Darryn Binder – who came home in eighth – and perhaps this result will start some momentum for the reigning Moto3 Junior World Champion.
Behind Binder in 9th place was Andrea Migno, who came up through the field well from his grid position of 19th, whilst Niccolo Antonelli completed the top ten.
It seems a long time since the Moto3 World Championship last raced. The cancellation of the British Grand Prix a fortnight ago means the last racing laps the World Championship riders experienced were one month ago in Austria, where Marco Bezzecchi won his second race of the season and extended his championship lead to twelve points.
Bezzecchi now comes into his home Grand Prix after dodging something of a bullet in Silverstone, where he only managed to qualify eleventh due to a crash in his final flying lap, whereas his championship rival Jorge Martin took pole position. This put Bezzecchi in a difficult position for the race, so to come away from the British Grand Prix without losing ground to Martin in the championship was a big result for the Italian. It will be interesting to see how Bezzecchi reacts to arriving in his home GP as a championship leader and as an affirmative championship contender. The Italian Grand Prix, back at round six, went well for Bezzecchi, where he finished second behind Martin. The Pruestel GP rider will be intent on reversing those positions this weekend, and for him the bike should work well, with the KTM’s stiff chassis and strong engine potentially proving invaluable on Misano’s stop-start layout.
On the other side of the coin, you have Jorge Martin, who missed a golden opportunity to win in Silverstone with Bezzecchi potentially facing a tough race. Martin has now been without a win since Sachsenring. Of course, there is a reasonable explanation thanks to his broken radius from Brno, but three race weekends without a 1st place trophy to take home will have Martin frothing at the mouth to come out on top this weekend, especially in Bezzecchi’s back yard.
It has been a difficult couple of races for Fabio Di Giannantonio since he won in Brno. Twelfth in Austria and a weekend almost void of front running pace in Silverstone has put the Roman on the back foot ahead of his second home race of the season. However, he has run good races in his two previous San Marino Grands Prix, finishing tenth in his debut appearance in the Moto3 class in Misano two years ago, and in 2017 he came home third in the pouring rain. It is the ideal time for Di Giannantonio to rediscover his form, especially as he seems to have lost an opportunity to ride the Gresini Moto2 bike next year, with Sam Lowes being signed to pilot their Kalex. Diggia needs a seat, and with the infamously short memories of paddock personnel, he needs to show he deserves one.
Nicolo Bulega has also been strong in Misano in the past, taking fourth place in 2016, and 5th last year – albeit over one minute over runaway winner Romano Fenati. After signs of a renaissance just before the summer break, things have gone away from Bulega again. He has been suggesting that he is slow in the straights, something which has been a trait of his whole GP career. It makes sense, because of his size, and should be manageable, because he has reasonable pace most weekends, but his inability to make a start costs him a lot especially when he doesn’t qualify on the front two rows – which happens quite often. It is expected that Bulega will go to the Sky VR46 Moto2 team next year, which on the surface would be a surprise, but the reality is that Bulega cannot stay in Moto3 another season – like Di Giannantonio he is too tall – and Sky might be his only option.
Misano has also been a good track for Enea Bastianini, winning in 2015 and taking second behind Brad Binder in 2016. Last year, however, Bastianini suffered two crashes and finished a lap down in the monsoon conditions. At a forty-one-point deficit to Bezzecchi in the championship and with only one win to his name in 2018, Bastianini needs to return to the top step this weekend to bring himself back into the title frame.
Like Bastianini, Aron Canet is in need of a return to the top step, a location the Spaniard has not visited this season. That said, he is still only 40 points off the championship lead, so a couple of good results and suddenly the #44 is right back in the fight. Another incentive for Canet to return to winning ways is his search for a Moto2 berth for next season. With Xavi Vierge confirmed at the Marc VDS team for next season, Canet must look outside of his current Estrella Galicia/Monlau Competition ‘family’ for a Moto2 ride, and the performances of Sergio Garcia in the Moto3 Junior World Championship could mean that continuing in Moto3 could also necessitate a change of scenery for Canet. It’s getting to crunch time for Canet, and he needs to show up if he wants to make the cut.
There are also a couple of wildcards this weekend in the lightweight class, with Yari Montella and Kevin Zannoni making appearances. Montella races for the Sic58 Squadra Corse in the Junior World Championship, whilst Zannoni rides a TM in the same championship and wildcarded in Misano last season to some success in the free practice sessions, although he was one of a number of fallers in the race.
The Moto3 qualifying session was a complicated one for the British Grand Prix. It started in reasonable, dry conditions, but a sprinkling of rain in the mid-point of the session disrupted everyone’s rhythms.
In the end, though, it was Jorge Martin who took pole position. It was his seventh pole of the season, and it could prove an important one for the championship, considering the position of his main title rival. But once again, Martin fought against the pain of his broken radius – which this weekend is more intense than he expected – to top qualifying and put himself in prime position for tomorrow, where he will aim to close his deficit in the championship.
Just 0.001 seconds behind Martin was Jaume Masia. The seventeen-year-old is making a habit of being robbed by Martin in the closing stages, after his first Grand Prix podium was taken away from him by Martin in the final corner in Austria at the last race. Nonetheless, a personal best qualifying for the Spaniard, who is progressing well in what is his full rookie season.
Jorge Martin. Image courtesy of Honda Pro Racing
Completing the front row for tomorrow’s 2018 Moto3 British Grand Prix is Lorenzo Dalla Porta, the Italian just 0.021 second off pole in what turned out to be a stunningly close-fought qualifying, even more so when you consider the complexity and length of the British track. Coming into Silverstone in a strong vane of form, Dalla Porta will hope to take his second career podium, after taking his first back in Qatar this year.
Albert Arenas heads up row two, ahead of Fabio Di Giannantonio who seems to be back on form after a poor Austrian round a couple of weeks ago. Tatsuki Suzuki rounds out row two.
Seventh on the grid tomorrow is Gabriel Rodrigo, who was on for pole before crashing at Abbey, after which he was sent to the medical centre. Enea Bastianini took eighth place, after a late change on the front gave him more confidence. The third row was rounded out by Nicolo Bulega, who has the opportunity to do a good race tomorrow, as the run to turn one is short, so he shouldn’t lose too much time off the start, where he is always very weak.
Marcos Ramirez completed the top ten, and will head row four tomorrow ahead of Marco Bezzecchi and Niccolo Antonelli. Bezzecchi had a good shot at pole, but he seemed to think himself out of it, by trying to stay with Jorge Martin the whole session, following the Spaniard everywhere. Ultimately, he crashed on his final lap, which left him eleventh. Antonelli, like Rodrigo, had to go to the medical centre following a crash late on in the session.
Aron Canet had a disappointing qualifying, ending up down in 13th. Philipp Oettl and Adam Norrodin join him on row five; whilst Kazuki Masaki, Jakub Kornfeil and Tony Arbolino make up row six.
John McPhee will start his home Grand Prix from just nineteenth place, although he has looked better than that when his bike has been correctly lined up, and not barrelling through the gravel. Ayumu Sasaki rounds out the top twenty, and row seven is completed by Dennis Foggia, who has looked good at times this weekend.
Alonso Lopez could only manage 22nd fastest, and will be joined by Vicente Perez and Nakarin Atiratphuvapat on row eight.
Row nine consists of Andrea Migno, Kaito Toba and Darryn Binder; whilst Tom Booth-Amos, Stefano Nepa and Jake Archer complete the grid.
Austria was one of those rare occasions, something you don’t often see. In this case, it was a lights-to-flag victory for Marco Bezzecchi, the second of his career, and his second of the season.
Bezzecchi capitalised on Jorge Martin’s broken radius well to be able to extend hi championship advantage to 12 points, and with eight rounds to go he is still right there in the championship fight, despite his low number of wins. The key to Bezzecchi’s success has been consistency. Admittedly, his consistency has been relative to him finishing compared with the three DNFs. However, when Bezzecchi has finished – that’s eight times so far this season – he has finished on the podium on all but one occasion, and the one time he failed to make the podium in those eight races was in Brno, where he recovered from a poor weekend to come home sixth on the Sunday. Like Luca Marini in Moto2, Bezzecchi this year has erased the importance of previous years’ form in tracks. For example, his best finish last year was fourteenth, bar a podium in Japan. On that basis, it might not be reading too much into his 19th place at the British Grand Prix last year, but maybe this will be the weekend which we look back on and determine as the point where Bezzecchi lost the 2018 Moto3 World Championship.
That said, the KTM should suit the fast Silverstone layout quite well. Should its pilots be able to negotiate the eighteen corners adequately, the power of the Austrian 250cc single should be able to keep them in the game down the long straights: Hangar and Wellington. Furthermore, with Jorge Martin still recovering from his broken radius from Brno, this could even prove to be another prime opportunity for Bezzecchi to take advantage in the championship.
Silverstone could even prove to be quite the disaster for Martin, with the bumps – supposedly made worse by the resurfacing which took place over the winter – perhaps bringing Martin’s injury renewed problems. That said, the softer Honda chassis you would expect to deal with the bumps better than the stiffer KTM frame. A softer frame might not help Martin directly, at least not with his radius, but the more rigid KTM could be significantly hindered by the surface condition, which could make Bezzecchi, not Martin, the one on a damage limitation job.
Jorge Martin with his injured left hand. Image courtesy of Honda Pro Racing
Regardless of whether any of the above proves true, Bezzecchi could be on the defensive anyway, such was Martin’s pace in Austria. The Spaniard should have recovered more since the previous race, and as such could once more be the speed benchmark this weekend. Also, unlike Bezzecchi, Martin had a great result in Silverstone last year, when he finished third, a tenth off the win. A couple of places better this year could just put the “J” of Jorge on the championship trophy.
It was Aron Canet who took the win last year, in an Estrella Galicia 1-2 as Enea Bastianini finished second. The pair will still be considering themselves in the mix for the championship, but right now they are very much minor ingredients, sitting 40 and 41 points off the championship lead respectively, and with a lot of work to do to get properly back in the fight. Canet, for a start, could do with picking up where he left off last year in Silverstone, as he is still without a win in 2018, and had a very disappointing race in Austria to boot.
Bastianini faces a different issue, that of finding speed in the first laps. Bastianini’s recovery in Austria was quite spectacular, arriving with his teammate, Lorenzo Dalla Porta, in the final two laps to fight for the podium, and eventually finishing second despite a poor start. If he can find some speed in the early stages and if things go his way, Bastianini can definitely still fight for the title, it’s just that those are two fairly large ‘ifs’.
Fabio Di Giannantonio had a nightmare in Austria, seemingly with no pace at all. He was reasonably fast in the middle of the race, but struggled a lot at the end, and a late dive on John McPhee for seventh punted the pair of them out of the top ten. It was not the way the Italian would have liked to respond to his debut Grand Prix victory, and now at a 38-point deficit to Bezzecchi, he too has work to do in the championship, and Silverstone could prove a critical round for the #21.
Marco Bezzecchi, Enea Bastianini and Jorge Martin on the Podium, Red Bull Ring, Spielberg 2018. Image courtesy of Philip Platzer/KTM
John McPhee, having been taken out of the top ten by Diggia in Austria following a brilliant fight back through the pack from stone last on the grid to eighth. McPhee is coming into this weekend with perhaps his best ever chance to win his home Grand Prix and after the disappointment of that Austrian race, he will be intent on returning to his pre-summer break form, when he was regularly contending for the podium between Mugello and Germany.
McPhee is not alone in riding his home Grand Prix this weekend in the lightweight class, as Tom Booth-Amos and Jake Archer are both wildcarding. Booth-Amos has had a tricky year, stepping up to the Moto3 Junior World Championship. He has had good speed, but crashes and injuries have hampered his season massively. On the positive side, he is riding this weekend as a third Leopard Racing entry, in the reigning World Champion team – it simply could not get any better for the Brit this weekend.
Archer, on the other hand, is riding his RS Racing City Lifting KTM which he races in the British Motostar Championship, which he is currently leading.
Lights-to-flag victories are uncommon to say the least in Moto3, but that is precisely what Marco Bezzecchi achieved in Austria on Sunday. He made the holeshot, and apart from one moment with four laps to go where Jorge Martin overtook him, Bezzecchi was never passed. It was a supreme ride by the Italian, one well-deserving of his second ever Grand Prix victory. It also meant he extended his championship lead, of course, which now stands at twelve points. Other than that, it is difficult to say much about Bezzecchi’s ride, because it was pretty much faultless.
Marco Bezzecchi Red Bull Ring, Spielberg 2018. Image courtesy of Gold and Goose /KTM
A poor qualifying and a worse start gave Enea Bastianini a lot of work to do – again. It is becoming a regular thing now with Bastianini, that he cannot start. Like Vinales in MotoGP, his starts have cost him a handful or two of points, and you have to say a few GP wins as well, because his late-race pace – also like Vinales – has been superlative pretty much all season. He recovered to second this time, though, keeping his championship hopes alive, although he is very distant at this stage, with eight rounds left, the deficit stands at 41 points.
By far the standout performance, though, of the 2018 Moto3 Austrian Grand Prix was that of Jorge Martin. Just eight says after he broke his radius in Brno, he qualified second on the grid behind Bezzecchi, and a day later he fought until the end to finish third in the race. It really was a superhuman effort by Martin, and even though the conditions of the race played a little into his hands, you can’t take anything away from his ride. All of his time was made in the two left handers in the middle of the lap, as he consistently took ten bike lengths out of his KTM rivals in those two corners alone. That is impressive enough, but is made even more so considering it was his left radius that is the injured one. Coming into the weekend, Martin was expecting a damage limitation job at best, but instead he rode beautifully to take yet another podium, and drop only nine points in the championship, leaving him just twelve back in the standings to Bezzecchi, who was sure to offer his hand in congratulation and admiration to Martin after the race.
Austria represented Albert Arenas’ best performance since his win in Le Mans back in May, as he took fourth place, ahead of Lorenzo Dalla Porta who bridged the gap to the leaders with Bastianini in the closing stages. The Leopard pair had been working together quite well all weekend, and it seemed almost destined that they would end up helping each other into podium contention.
Jorge Martin. Moto3 2018: Round Eleven – Red Bull Ring, Austria. Image courtesy of HondaProRacing
Jaume Masia was in second place until the penultimate corner, where he ran slightly deep and allowed Enea Bastianini through. Jorge Martin was also able to sneak underneath and as the #5 rider tried to hang on round the outside of the #88, he also lost fourth and fifth places to Arenas and Dalla Porta respectively.
A disappointing qualifying for Ayumu Sasaki left him with a lot of work to do to be able to achieve a decent result. He achieved the work as well, coming from 23rd on the grid to finish seventh in what might be his best World Championship ride to date.
After running with the front guys for a large portion of the race, Gabriel Rodrigo could only manage to come home in eighth place, ahead of Tony Arbolino and Aron Canet who disappointingly completed the top ten, when he really should have been fighting for the victory.
Eleventh over the line was Fabio Di Giannantonio, who had been fighting with Bastianini and Dalla Porta, but then slowed, and ended up shoving a huge late dive on John McPhee in the final corner to try and salvage seventh, but he ran them both wide. McPhee came home twelfth, but it was still an impressive ride from the Scot after qualifying stone last.
He may have been on the podium at his home race last week, but in Austria Jakub Kornfeil could only manage thirteenth, but was ahead of Philipp Oettl and Marcos Ramirez, who rounded out the points.
Kaito Toba crossed the line in sixteenth, ahead of Adam Norrodin, Tatsuki Suzuki and Darryn Binder, whilst Ai Ogura rounded out the top twenty in his fourth wildcard of the year.
Twenty-first went to Kazuki Masaki, whilst Niccolo Antonelli and Nicolo Bulega had difficult races in 22nd and 23rd respectively. Alonso Lopez also struggled, and finished down in 24th place, but ahead of Dennis Foggia who was 26th. Fellow CEV graduate, Vicente Perez was sandwiched between Lopez and Foggia in 25th spot over the line. Stefano Nepa was 27th, ahead of Nakarin Atiratphuvapat and Max Kofler who was the 28th and final finisher.
In a somewhat surprising turn of events, there was only one retirement in the Moto3 race in Austria, and it was Andrea Migno at the final corner 12 laps from the flag.
With Jorge Martin in a subpar physical condition, today’s qualifying session opened up opportunities for the rest of the Moto3 World Championship field to take pole position – especially the KTM riders, whose bikes were suited well to the Red Bull Ring.
Marco Bezzecchi at The Redbull Ring. Image courtesy of Gruppe C Photography/KTM
Indeed it was a KTM rider who took pole position in the damp-but-drying session, and who else but KTM’s one and only title contender, Marco Bezzecchi who took his first career World Championship pole position, and Pruestel GP’s second pole in a week after Jakub Kornfeil’s triumphant Saturday last week at home in Brno. Bezzecchi has looked strong all weekend – especially in the wet, and perhaps because of his future security as he has been confirmed in the Tech3 KTM Moto2 team for next season. And with that future ride in place, he made the most of the conditions to set his fastest time at the very end, when the track was at its best. Maximum points is a must for Bezzecchi tomorrow, as he has to capitalise on Martin’s injury and take profit in the championship.
Jorge Martin at The Redbull Ring. Image courtesy of HondaProRacing
Jorge Martin appeared to be in a mess on Friday, and even Saturday morning. Before qualifying, he had only ridden in FP1 to try to save his strength for the important sessions. It was a questionable tactic, and one that brought back memories of Brno 2017, where Jorge missed practice sessions due to the broken leg picked up in Sachsenring and ultimately pulled out of the weekend. However, it was a tactic that clearly worked, and so did his qualifying strategy. He was reasonably quick in the wet, but nothing spectacular, but when the track dried out he was in a prime position to take advantage of the drying track. Unfortunately, Bezzecchi had marginally better timing and was able to sneak pole position, but Martin still managed second place – something that Bezzecchi was quick to congratulate him on. And rightly so, the feat of Martin was incredible; to come back one week after a broken radius and qualify second – especially on a track with so much heavy breaking – is up there with Jorge Lorenzo’s 2013 Assen comeback. A really impressive achievement for Martin, and now all eyes will be on him tomorrow to see whether he might even be able to go one better in the race.
The front row of the grid is rounded out by Albert Arenas, the first front row of his Grand Prix career, and his second visit to parc ferme, after his victory in Le Mans.
Albert Arenas at The Rdbull Ring. Image courtesy of Gold and Goose
Like Bezzecchi, Aron Canet will be hoping to take advantage of Jorge Martin’s injury tomorrow and maximise his points gain over his compatriot in the championship. Canet is still without a win this season, but will be looking to change that tomorrow from fourth on the grid. Tony Arbolino and Gabriel Rodrigo join Canet on the front row, in fifth and sixth respectively.
Marcos Ramirez starts tomorrow’s race from seventh on the grid, ahead of Tech 3’s second Moto2 signing for next season, Philipp Oettl. They are joined by another championship hopeful on row three, as Enea Bastianini starts ninth tomorrow.
It was one of Adam Norrodin’s best performances of the season in qualifying today, as he set the 10th fastest time, to head up row four on which he will be joined by Lorenzo Dalla Porta and Jaume Masia. The Spaniard was brilliant in the Austrian Grand Prix last year as a wildcard, so keep an eye on him tomorrow.
From pole position last week to thirteenth – that is the difference seven days makes to Jakub Kornfeil’s qualifying position, but expect the Czech to come on strong should the rain tyres make an appearance. He lines up alongside two Italians on the fifth row; Niccolo Antonelli and Dennis Foggia start 14th and 15th respectively.
A disappointing qualifying for Fabio Di Giannantonio left him down in sixteenth. Two Japanese join the Italian on row six, as Tatsuki Suzuki line up 17th and Ayumu Sasaki took the 18th fastest time.
Andrea Migno starts 19th, whilst Alonso Lopez rounds out the top 20 and Stefano Nepa completes row seven in 21st place.
The 22nd fastest time went to Nicolo Bulega. The positive for the Italian is that, with his typically apocalyptic starts, he will probably be last by turn one and thus be able to avoid the inevitable carnage at the tight turn one. Max Kofler, the #73 wildcard, took 23rd, and Nakarin Atiratphuvapat 24th.
25th went to Kazuki Masaki, whilst Ai Ogura was surprisingly far down the order in 26th. Ogura was impressive in the wet but when the conditions got mixed he clearly lost a lot of confidence. Darryn Binder could only manage the back of row nine in 27th.
Kaito Toba was 28th and Vicente Perez 29th. John McPhee will be 30th and last on the grid tomorrow, after his second crash of the session meant he couldn’t set a time when the track was at its best. In fact, McPhee didn’t make the qualifying time, but the stewards will let him in on account of previous evidence of his competitiveness.
For round eleven of the 2018 Moto3 World Championship, Marco Bezzecchi leads the lightweight field to Austria, and the Red Bull Ring (or, A1 Ring if you’re sponsored by another energy drinks company).
Of course, Bezzecchi leading the championship at this stage is important, since it is also KTM’s home race. It means that the 40,000 people populating the KTM stand on Sunday will be able to see one of their chosen factory’s riders fighting to maintain the lead of the championship. However, coming off such a difficult weekend in Brno last week Bezzecchi will be hoping to return to his form of the first half of the year, where he was on the podium in six out of the nine races. And, of course, KTM would love for their sole championship challenger to take the win at their home event.
Marco Bezzecchi at Brno 2018. Image courtesy of Marcin Kin/KTM
The person most likely to deny Bezzecchi the title, Jorge Martin, who is trying to come back this weekend. He broke his radius last weekend in Brno in the first practice session on Friday morning, putting him out of last weekend’s Czech GP. The doctors have allowed Martin to compete, it would really be little surprise to see him fighting at the front – remember last year, when he was in tears in parc ferme after making the podium with his 5-week-old broken leg.
Even if Bezzecchi can’t take full advantage of Martin’s broken radius for the second week running, the Spaniard’s Gresini Racing teammate, Fabio Di Giannantonio, may well make the number 88 pay. He took his first win last week, making up for the disappointment of Le Mans, and the feeling has been that one win would set the Italian up to become a regular Grand Prix winner. We will begin to find out whether Diggia will go the route of Jorge Martin, and become a serial victor, or the route of Enea Bastianini, and wait still for months before another victory.
Speaking of Bastianini; he is without a podium since he was third in Assen, at which point he was looking like someone who could come back into championship contention. Since then, though, he crashed in Germany and could only manage fourth in Brno, which in reality wasn’t such a bad result considering the weekend he had. Nonetheless, he benefited from Martin’s injury last week, and is still in the mix for the championship – if very much on the outside – but this weekend will require a big result for La Bestia if he wants to close more on the top.
Enea Bastianini at Brno 2018. Image courtesy of HondaProRacing
The fifth and final realistic championship contender is Aron Canet, who has been completely under the radar this year, and is the only rider in the fight without a win. In fact, Brno was only Canet’s fourth podium of the year, but it’s been his finishing ratio that has helped Canet’s challenge, only crashing out of one race – Jerez. A win this weekend would make Canet an absolute contender, although he was only fifth last year, 3.5 seconds off the victorious Joan Mir.
This summer, Europe has been in the middle of a heatwave, and it has had a big impact on the World Championship, bringing higher-than-expected track temperatures which have especially affected MotoGP. However, this weekend, it looks like it will be wet throughout, which could have a big impact on the result, with perhaps some unlikely riders finding the podium. Of course, Moto3 is the only category in the World Championship to have had a wet race this year, back in Argentina when Bezzecchi won his one and only race. It could be bad for Martin, though, as he will be conscious of his injury, and may be very cautious so as to not worsen the damage to his wrist. On the other hand, it could be great for Martin, because the riders with nothing to lose – such as a John McPhee, a Jakub Kornfeil, or a Gabriel Rodrigo – could arrive and take points off his rivals, meaning he wouldn’t lose too many points to his competitors should he be ruled out through injury.
