Guevara a class above the rest for brilliant Barcelona win

Valresa GASGAS Aspar Team's Izan Guevara was in a league of his own at the Monster Energy Catalan Grand Prix as he romped to a second win of the season in quite stunning fashion. The Mallorcan broke clear of a typically hectic Moto3™ group with six laps remaining to cross the line comfortably clear of remarkable rookie David Muñoz, who claimed a career-first podium in only his second Grand Prix. Leopard Racing's Tatsuki Suzuki was only one hundredth adrift of the BOE Motorsports rider in third.

A WEEK TO FORGET

Poleman Dennis Foggia got the perfect start to fire his Leopard Racing Honda into an early lead, with Guevara settling into second behind him. Valresa GASGAS Aspar Team's Sergio Garcia found himself in third after a move up the inside of SIC58 Squadra Corse's Riccardo Rossi into Turn 10; the Championship leader had quickly recovered from a lackluster, by his standards, third row start.

Lap 3 and Foggia still lead the way. He was joined at the front by teammate Suzuki, who was starting to make some moves as he fired past Garcia for third before then squeezing through on Guevara at Turn 11 for P2. Foggia’s challengers were starting to rattle him just one lap later when Suzuki, Guevara and then Garcia all found a pass on the Italian through the first two sectors.

Then, on the run down to Turn 10 on Lap 7, the picture at the front of the race and in the title chase changed dramatically. Italy's Foggia was forced to retire with a technical problem, as, just seven days on from crashing out of the lead at his home race in Mugello, disaster struck again for the misfiring Rocket.

UNLIKELY CONTENDERS

One of the performances of the day was coming courtesy of Sterilgarda Husqvarna's David Salvador as the Spaniard was up to fourth having started 16th. A strong ride was coming from Adrian Fernandez as well, with the Red Bull KTM Tech3 man up in the leading group for the first time in a while. But the stand-out rider was David Muñoz. In only his second Grand Prix appearance, the 16-year-old was showing no mercy for his more experienced rivals as he sythed his way into the top five.

The leading group was then fractured after a big crash at Turn 10. Ryusei Yamanaka (MT Helmets - MSI) dived through on the inside of Dani Holgado (Red Bull KTM Ajo), got it wrong and clipped the rear wheel of Salvador ahead of him, to take the Spanish stand-in down along with himself and the unfortunate Holgado on the outside as well.

That meant a leading group of seven emerged, with Red Bull KTM Ajo's Jaume Masia amongst it having recovered from a poor start. Muñoz began conjuring up some magic as he lead in only his second Grand Prix with nine laps remaining, before then Adrian Fernandez hit the front of a Moto3™ race for the first time in his career - a remarkable recovery having started 24th.

THE BREAK FOR BARCELONA GLORY

Seven laps remaining and Guevara was making a big effort to try and break clear. He was half a second clear as they came across the line, causing alarm bells to ring in the mind of teammate Garcia. He could see his teammate checking out in front of him and quickly bullied his way into second to try and go with the Mallorcan. Muñoz was similarly worried by Guevara and dived through to third, tucking in behind Garcia.

Two remaining and Guevara was still half a second clear despite Garcia pushing to the absolute limit behind. A costly error through Turn 5 for Garcia saw the lead stretch out to eight tenths of a second and virtually had the win to the faultless Guevara. The fight for the final podium spot came down to Garcia, Muñoz and Suzuki, who latched onto the Spaniards ahead of him in the closing stages. Muñoz slipped through to second at the opening corner as the final lap started, with Suzuki then responding at Turn 4. They were three wide down to Turn 6 with contact nearly happening between them all before the young 16-year-old emerged in front. Muñoz held it through Turn 10 and just had a handful of corners to go to take a memorable debut podium.

At the front, Guevara came across the line to take the chequered flag and a third career win. Eyes then flicked to the fight for second with Muñoz emerging at the head of the three rider fight to bag second spot by 0.010 seconds from Suzuki and Garcia. Now just 16 points split the GASGAS Aspar men with Guevara's fourth consecutive podium allowing him to close in on his teammate. Red Bull KTM Tech3's Deniz Öncü came across the line in fifth, ahead of Carlos Tatay (PrüstelGP CFMoto) and John McPhee (Sterilgarda Husqvarna). Both Masia and Fernandez dropped backwards in the closing stages to come across the line in eigith and ninth, before the top ten was completed by Xavi Artigas (PrüstelGP CFMoto).

Moto3™ Top 10:
1. Izan Guevara (Valresa GASGAS Aspar Team)
2. David Muñoz (BOE Motorsports) + 1.975
3. Tatsuki Suzuki (Leopard Racing) + 1.985
4. Sergio Garcia (Valresa GASGAS Aspar Team) + 2.036
5. Deniz Öncü (Red Bull KTM Tech 3) + 2.752
6. Carlos Tatay (CFMoto Racing PrustelGP) + 3.134
7. John McPhee (Sterilgarda Husqvarna Max) + 3.341
8. Jaume Masia (Red Bull KTM Ajo) + 3.633
9. Adrian Fernandez (Red Bull KTM Tech 3) + 5.285
10. Xavi Artigas (CFMoto Racing PrustelGP) + 5.555