MotorSport
Leopard Honda’s Angel Piqueras competed a remarkable Moto3 win at Misano in the San Marino Grand Prix.
For the second occasion in a week a Spanish teenager walked the top step of the podium for the first time, following KTM Ajo’s Jose Antonio Rueda’s success in Aragon last Sunday.
The 17-year-old had to negotiate two Long Lap penalties after a collision with Britain’s Scott Ogden on Saturday and charged back from the deficit to defeat GASGAS Tech3’s Daniel Holgado by 0.035s – the closest ever race finish at Misano.
The triumph signified the first win for the 2023 Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup champion in his debut Moto3 term after a gripping race between five riders at the front and frequent overtaking.
Holgado was runner-up for his sixth podium finish of the season and rose to second in the championship standings as a consequence. MT Helmet-MSI’s Ivan Ortola was the first KTM rider in the classification and rounded out an all-Spanish top three.
Honda Team Asia’s Taiyo Furosato took his Honda to fourth and the Japanese’s contact with world championship leader David Alonso on the last lap of 22 dropped the Columbian to sixth; later the CFMOTO Aspar man was demoted to seventh after a track limits infringement on the same circulation. Alonso’s championship lead has been trimmed to 70 points
Australian Joel Kelso was therefore pushed up to sixth on the BOE KTM. Husqvarna IntactGP’s Tatsuki Suzuki rode from 23rd on the grid to finish eighth.
Honda riders Luca Lunetta and Adrian Fernandez were both adjudged to have jumped the start and had to serve two Long Lap penalties. Lunetta had qualified on the front row and the sanction snuffed out hopes of home glory but he rallied to ninth. SIC58’s Filippo Farioli was 10th.
Rueda went from the high of home grand prix spoils to the low of a second corner crash as his race lasted all of a few seconds, while BOE Motorsports’ David Munoz and CIP Green Power’s Ricardo Rossi were the other fallers in the incident.
1
–
2
Cla
Rider
#
Bike
Laps
Time
Interval
km/h
Retirement
Points
1
Á. Piqueras Leopard Racing
36
Honda
20
34’02.766
148.9
25
2
D. Holgado Red Bull GASGAS Tech3
96
GASGAS
20
+0.035
34’02.801
0.035
148.9
20
3
I. Ortola MT Helmets – MSI
48
KTM
20
+0.226
34’02.992
0.191
148.9
16
4
T. Furusato Honda Team Asia
72
Honda
20
+0.259
34’03.025
0.033
148.9
13
5
C. Veijer Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP
95
Husqvarna
20
+0.491
34’03.257
0.232
148.9
11
6
J. Kelso BOE Motorsports
66
KTM
20
+0.977
34’03.743
0.486
148.8
10
7
D. Alonso CFMOTO Gaviota Aspar Team
80
CF MOTO
20
+0.596
34’03.362
148.9
9
8
T. Suzuki Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP
24
Husqvarna
20
+3.756
34’06.522
3.160
148.6
8
9
L. Lunetta SIC58 Squadra Corse
58
Honda
20
+6.789
34’09.555
3.033
148.4
7
10
F. Farioli SIC58 Squadra Corse
7
Honda
20
+8.088
34’10.854
1.299
148.3
6
11
D. Almansa Kopron Rivacold Snipers Team
22
Honda
20
+8.122
34’10.888
0.034
148.3
5
12
J. Roulstone Red Bull GASGAS Tech3
12
GASGAS
20
+8.400
34’11.166
0.278
148.3
4
13
A. Fernandez Leopard Racing
31
Honda
20
+9.366
34’12.132
0.966
148.2
3
14
S. Nepa LEVELUP – MTA
82
KTM
20
+9.911
34’12.677
0.545
148.2
2
15
S. Ogden FleetSafe Honda – MLav Racing
19
Honda
20
+11.067
34’13.833
1.156
148.1
1
16
N. Fabio LEVELUP – MTA
10
KTM
20
+17.122
34’19.888
6.055
147.7
17
R. Yamanaka MT Helmets – MSI
6
KTM
20
+30.484
34’33.250
13.362
146.7
18
X. Zurutuza Red Bull KTM Factory Racing
85
KTM
20
+32.041
34’34.807
1.557
146.6
19
J. Rosenthaler Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP
34
Husqvarna
20
+32.138
34’34.904
0.097
146.6
20
N. Dettwiler CIP
55
KTM
20
+38.080
34’40.846
5.942
146.2
21
T. Buasri Honda Team Asia
5
Honda
20
+38.148
34’40.914
0.068
146.2
22
J. Esteban CFMOTO Gaviota Aspar Team
78
CF MOTO
20
+43.960
34’46.726
5.812
145.8
dnf
M. Bertelle Kopron Rivacold Snipers Team
18
Honda
16
+4 Laps
27’16.965
4 Laps
148.7
Accident
dnf
V. Pérez FleetSafe Honda – MLav Racing
21
Honda
16
+4 Laps
27’21.260
4.295
148.3
Accident
dnf
J. Antonio Red Bull KTM Factory Racing
99
KTM
0
20 laps
Accident
dnf
D. Munoz BOE Motorsports
64
KTM
0
20 laps
Accident
dnf
R. Rossi CIP
54
KTM
0
20 laps
Accident
Ai Ogura, MT Helmets MSI
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Moto2 was aced by MT Helmets -MSI’s Ai Ogura, as the MotoGP-bound Japanese rider beat Fantic Racing’s Aron Canet and Marc VDS’ Tony Arbolino for his third victory of the campaign.
KTM Ajo’s Celestino Vietti tumbled out of contention for victory from fourth with three laps to go at Turn 16.
QJMotor Gresini’s Manuel Gonzalez rode to a lonely fourth as a result, as Aragon GP winner CFMOTO Aspar’s Jake Dixon capped the top five.
Another MotoGP class conscript for next year, Sync SpeedUp’s Fermin Aldeguer, erased some of the disappointment of his crash at Aragon last weekend with sixth place.
Arbolino’s team-mate, Filip Salac took seventh and headed the four-way fight between Italtrans Racing’s Diogo Morira, QJMotor Gresini’s Albert Arenas and IntactGP Husqvarna’s Darryn Binder in 10th.
SpeedUp Racing’s Alonso Lopez crashed on lap two and later received a Long Lap penalty for exceeding track limits.
Sergio Garcia made an emotional charge from 24th on the grid to 12th but was unable to prevent Ogura from taking the Moto2 championship lead, the Spaniard in tears after the race, while the Japanese rider is now nine points ahead of his MT Helmets – MSi team-mate at the top of the standings.
