Guevara goes lights-to-flag at the German GP

The GASGAS Aspar Team’s Izan Guevara has run away with victory in the Moto3™ Race at the Liqui Moly Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland. The Spaniard had qualified on pole position and he led all 27 laps around the Sachsenring, taking the chequered flag 4.853 seconds up on the field to seal his second win – and fifth podium – in a row. Leopard Racing’s Dennis Foggia finished runner-up after World Championship leader Sergio Garcia failed to make a move stick at the final corner, but the latter still made it two GASGAS Aspar Team entries on the rostrum.

Ayumu Sasaki (Sterilgarda Husqvarna Max), who was a surprise returnee from injury after an ugly crash two rounds ago at Mugello, rode through to pain to claim a commendable fourth, ahead of fellow Japanese pilot Tatsuki Suzuki (Leopard Racing) and Daniel Holgado (Red Bull KTM Ajo). Deniz Öncü hauled his Red Bull KTM Tech3 entry all the way from 24th on the grid to take seventh.

Advantage Guevara

Guevara made a good launch from pole and was looking at fresh air when he exited the first corner, ahead of the Leopard Honda duo of Foggia and Suzuki. Holgado slipped back initially from his front-row start but was on an early charge, climbing to second when he overtook Suzuki on Lap 3 at Turn 1 and Foggia exactly a lap later again, but handed both of those spots back when he ran wide at the same corner on Lap 6.

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Garcia and Sasaki relegated him to sixth when they went underneath the rookie further around at Turn 12, as Guevara crept away at the head of the field. The pole-sitter was about 0.6 seconds up at that point and had moved to a full second clear on Lap 9, at which time Garcia took up third position when he passed Suzuki.

An even bigger advantage for Guevara

Second-placed Foggia received a track limits warning on Lap 11, before Sasaki went down the inside of Suzuki and into fourth position on Lap 16 at Turn 12. By then, Guevara was just about out to a two-second gap over the pack of five which was following him, and Öncü ran seventh, albeit several seconds behind Holgado, despite not only starting on Row 8 but also having to serve a double Long Lap penalty for a jumpstart.

Guevara was looking unstoppable, increasing his advantage to three seconds on Lap 19 and four seconds on Lap 22, by which time Garcia and Holgado were also riding with track limits warnings having over their heads. Less than a second covered the Foggia-Garcia-Sasaki-Suzuki quartet, but Holgado was starting to lose touch with them as he continued to run in sixth position.

Foggia sees off Garcia in the podium battle

After another couple of laps, it was a three-way fight for the final two podium positions as Suzuki too started to fade, but Guevara was still going on with it. The 17-year-old stretched the gap to five seconds on Lap 25 and cruised home from there, but second position was in no way resolved. Garcia continued to stalk Foggia, forcing the Italian to go defensive at the start of the 27th and final lap. He then fired his GASGAS Aspar bike down the inside of the Leopard Honda at the very last corner of the race, but a rear-end moment meant he could not make the move stick and had to settle for third, albeit just 0.111 seconds behind.

The three riders on the podium are also now the top three in the World Championship, which Garcia continues to lead, but now by a reduced, seven-point margin over team-mate Guevara. Foggia moved into third position, although he is more than two races off the summit at a 51-point deficit to Garcia.

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How the rest finished

Sasaki was just under a second away from the podium at the chequered flag, but three seconds up on Suzuki, who was another nearly four seconds ahead of Holgado. The Red Bull KTM Ajo rider ultimately finished only a few tenths ahead of seventh-placed Öncü, with Adrian Fernandez eighth on the other Red Bull KTM Tech3 entry, and the top 10 rounded out by David Muñoz (BOE Motorsports) and Ivan Ortola (Angeluss MTA Team).

Andrea Migno (Rivacold Snipers Team) was lucky not to be wiped out in a Carlos Tatay-Riccardo Rossi incident at the first corner of the race and it was just as well as he went on to take 11th, while 12th for Jaume Masia (Red Bull KTM Ajo) meant he dropped from third to fourth in the World Championship. The rest of the points finishers were Xavier Artigas (CFMoto Racing PruestelGP), Elia Bartolini (QJMotor Avintia Racing Team), and Stefano Nepa (Angeluss MTA Team).

It was a bruising opening to the encounter, with several riders hitting the deck. Tatay (CFMoto Racing PruestelGP) clattered into Rossi (Sic58 Squadra Corse) at the first corner, which forced John McPhee (Sterilgard Husqvarna Max) through the gravel as well, and that incident will be investigated post-race. Joel Kelso (CIP Green Power) crashed out of a top 10 position on Lap 7 at Turn 3 and, two corners further around the track, contact between Öncü and Ryusei Yamanaka (MT Helmets - MSI) caused the latter to run through the gravel at the same time that Scott Ogden (VisionTrack Racing Team) highsided.

There were seven retirements in total, namely Tatay, Joshua Whatley (VisionTrack Racing Team), Yamanaka (MT Helmets - MSI) after a possible technical problem, Kelso, Matteo Bertelle (QJMotor Avintia Racing Team), Ogden, and Rossi.

The gap has tightened at the top of the World Championship and there is everything to play for in the last event before the summer break! Catch Round 11, the Motul TT Assen, on June 24-26 from the TT Circuit Assen.

Moto3™ Race Top 10:

1. Izan Guevara (GASGAS Aspar Team)
2. Dennis Foggia (Leopard Racing) + 4.853
3. Sergio Garcia (GASGAS Aspar Team) + 4.964
4. Ayumu Sasaki (Sterilgarda Husqvarna Max) + 5.941
5. Tatsuki Suzuki (Leopard Racing) + 9.081
6. Daniel Holgado (Red Bull KTM Ajo) + 12.826
7. Deniz Öncü (Red Bull KTM Tech 3) + 13.426
8. Adrian Fernandez (Red Bull KTM Tech 3) + 14.664
9. David Muñoz (BOE Motorsports) + 21.022
10. Ivan Ortola (Angeluss MTA Team) + 21.272

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