It has been utter domination from Dennis Foggia all weekend at the SHARK Grand Prix de France, with the Leopard Racing rider and title contender earning a career-first pole position. The Italian rattled off a 1:41.621 to make sure he takes home the Tissot watch from Le Mans and gave himself 0.151s to spare over teammate Tatsuki Suzuki.
Joining the Leopard duo on the front row is Jaume Masia (Red Bull KTM Ajo), with the Spaniard seeking a second win and fourth podium of the season come lights out.
First career POLE POSITION for @dennisfoggia71! ????#Moto3 | #FrenchGP ???????? pic.twitter.com/LTeOqJCEZn
— MotoGP™???? (@MotoGP) May 14, 2022
The story of the session
Under the French sunshine, Deniz Öncü (Red Bull KTM Tech3) topped Q1 to seal his place in the battle for pole, with home hero Lorenzo Fellon (SIC58 Squadra Corse), Matteo Bertelle (QJMotor Avintia Racing Team) and Riccardo Rossi (SIC58 Squadra Corse) joining the Turk among the top four riders from the session.
They lined up along the other Q2 hopefuls, but it was going to take something special to deny Foggia. As the initial runs came to an end, it was little surprise to see everyone playing catch up with the Leopard Hondas as Foggia led Suzuki in the top two.
From Q1 to provisional front row for @Denizoncu53! ????
— MotoGP™???? (@MotoGP) May 14, 2022
And @dennisfoggia71 is on course for his first pole position with teammate @TatsukiSuzuki24 just behind! ????#Moto3 | #FrenchGP ???????? pic.twitter.com/hRJleT49zR
As the clock ticked towards the three minute mark, the lightweight class had time to spin a couple more flying laps. Masia posted an effort that was good enough to get him into the top three on his first attempt, with Carlos Tatay (CFMoto Racing PruestelGP) also moving up the timesheets.
Neither of the top two had improved on their opening efforts while the timing screens saw a number of riders light up the first sector in red, but of all of them, rookie Diogo Moreira (MT Helmets – MSI) was best placed to take a shock pole. However, he couldn’t keep up the pace all the way through and will have to settle for P4 while Tatay dropped to fifth.
There was still one rider out there who could dislodge Foggia, and that was Championship leader Sergio Garcia (Gaviota GASGAS Aspar Team). After an encouraging first couple sectors, the Spaniard lost time in the second part of the circuit and in the end will have to launch his victory bid from seventh on the grid, behind Rivacold Snipers’ Andrea Migno in P6. While Garcia was recording his best time of the weekend, Foggia put in another blinding lap to help consolidate his position at the top of the timesheets.
Next up for the lightweight class is lights out on Sunday, with the big question being can anyone stop the irrepressible Dennis Foggia? Tune in at 11:00 CET to find out!
Top 10:
1. Dennis Foggia (Leopard Racing) – 1:41.621
2. Tatsuki Suzuki (Leopard Racing) + 0.151
3. Jaume Masia (Red Bull KTM Ajo) + 0.157
4. Diogo Moreira (MT Helmets - MSI) + 0.258
5. Carlos Tatay (CFMoto Racing PrustelGP) + 0.340
6. Andrea Migno (Rivacold Snipers Team) + 0.368
7. Sergio Garcia (Gaviota GASGAS Aspar Team) + 0.378
8. Izan Guevara (Gaviota GASGAS Aspar Team) + 0.403
9. Riccardo Rossi (SIC58 Squadra Corse) + 0.405
10. Deniz Öncü (Red Bull KTM Tech 3) + 0.425