Lorenzo Dalla Porta (Leopard Racing) is the 2019 Moto3™ World Champion. After a stunning race win at Phillip Island secured him the crown, the Italian from the Tuscan city of Prato becomes the first from his country to win a lightweight class World Championship since Andrea Dovizioso took the 2004 125 title.
Dalla Porta made his first appearance in the Moto3™ World Championship at Indianapolis in 2015 replacing Isaac Viñales at Husqvarna Factory Laglisse, the same structure he raced with at the time in the FIM CEV Repsol Moto3™ Junior World Championship. Throughout the rest of the season, he only failed to finish once, at Phillip Island, and took a best result of eighth after an impressive debut showing.
The following season, the Italian made more than just a few more appearances on the world stage. At Mugello he replaced Philipp Öttl at Schedl GP Racing and scored a point, and at Assen he replaced Jorge Navarro at Estrella Galicia 0,0, taking his second top ten in Moto3™. Later in the season, he then joined the Championship full time replacing Romano Fenati at Sky Racing Team VR46 from Silverstone on. The same year, his junior campaign continued and Dalla Porta was crowned 2016 FIM CEV Repsol Moto3™ Junior World Champion at the season finale in Valencia.
2017 saw the Italian join Pull&Bear Aspar Mahindra and make the permanent move up to the World Championship, although the year was a tougher one for the Italian, especially given his earlier results. He did enough to gain the attention of Leopard Racing for the following season, however, and joined the high-profile team for 2018.
The switch was an immediate success and Dalla Porta was on the podium in the season opener at Losail, taking third place and his first rostrum finish in Grand Prix racing. From there followed some solid races as the Italian took a top ten finish more often than not, and his first win would come in the latter half of the season on home turf at Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli. More podiums in Thailand, Japan and Malaysia followed, putting Dalla Porta in the top five overall by the end of the year.
2019 saw that promise pay off even more as Dalla Porta put together an impressive campaign. Again it began with a podium in Qatar, this time in second, and the Italian took two more rostrum finishes at Le Mans and Mugello. He missed out at Catalunya through no fault of his own, but he was back on the box at the TT Circuit Assen before taking his first win of the season at the German GP. Another two podiums at Brno and Silverstone saw him exchanging the points lead with key rival Aron Canet (Sterilgarda Max Racing Team) as the two pulled clear at the top of the standings, but as the flyaways came around, Dalla Porta was the man with the momentum.
Another podium at Buriram was backed up by a second win of the season at the Twin Ring Motegi to put the Italian in the driving seat on the road to Phillip Island, and some key drama hit early in the Australian GP as closest rival Aron Canet crashed out in the first few laps – leaving Dalla Porta with an open goal. In a classic Moto3™ showdown around one of the most challenging racetracks on the calendar, the number 48 was fearless to take a third hard-fought win of the year and secure himself the throne.
The 2019 Moto3™ World Champion is Lorenzo Dalla Porta!