Mugello Moto3: Foggia fends off Masia to take narrow win

Leopard’s Dennis Foggia fended off Jaume Masia by 0.036 seconds to claim his first win of 2021 in a thrilling Moto3 Italian Grand Prix at Mugello.

Race winner Dennis Foggia, Leopard Racing

Following the horrible incident which has left Jason Dupasquier in a serious condition in hospital in Florence, the Prustel GP team elected to withdraw Ryusei Yamanaka from Sunday’s Italian GP.

Drama erupted on the opening lap of the race when Max Racing’s Adrian Fernandez ran into the back of VR46 Academy wildcard Alberto Surra at Turn 1, taking both down.

Further round the lap at the Casanova/Savelli section, Tech 3 KTM rider Deniz Oncu highisded out of the race while behind him a similar crash for CIP’s Max Kofler ended up collecting Andrea Migno (Snipers Honda) and Avintia’s Carlos Tatay.

The marshals managed to clear the scene by the time the field came round on lap two, the battle for the lead typically chaotic at Mugello.

Across the first 16 of 20 laps championship leader Pedro Acosta, Leopard’s Foggia, Romano Fenati on the Max Racing Husqvarna, poleman Tatzuki Suzuki (SIC58 Honda) and Petronas Sprinta Honda pair John McPhee and Darryn Binder all took turns heading the field.

The lead group onto the final two laps stood at 14 riders, with Jaume Masia on the Ajo KTM outdragging the pack into San Donato at the start of the penultimate tour.

But the Spaniard ran wide and allowed Fenati and Foggia to come through, while Acosta found himself down in 11th.

Fenati managed to eke out a handful of bike lengths over Foggia across the penultimate lap, but was powerless to stop Foggia blasting through into the lead at the start of the final tour.

Foggia was given crucial breathing space when Gresini’s Gabriel Rodrigo scythed past Fenati at Savelli.

Masia came through on Rodrigo into the Scarperia right-hander and managed to close the gap to Foggia into the final corner.

But Foggia was able to use the power of his Honda to keep the charging Masia at bay for his first win since Brno last year.

Rodrigo completed the podium for his first rostrum since Barcelona 2018, with Ayumu Sasaki – who was involved in the Dupasquier incident – was fourth on his Tech 3 KTM ahead of Binder.

Fenati was sixth in the end ahead of McPhee, who was promoted two spots due to Acosta and Sergio Garcia (Aspar GASGAS) being demoted a place for exceeding track limits on the last lap.

Poleman Suzuki completed the top 10, with the remaining points going to Snipers’ Filip Salac, CIP’s Kaito Toba, Niccolo Antonelli (Avintia KTM), Stefano Nepa (BOE Owlride KTM) and Gresini’s Jeremy Alcoba.

Acosta holds onto a sizable championship lead over teammate Masia of 52 points, with Sasaki moving up to third a further two points adrift. 

Race results:

Cla # Rider Bike Time Gap
1 7 Italy Dennis Foggia Honda -  
2 5 Spain Jaume Masia KTM 0.036 0.036
3 2 Argentina Gabriel Rodrigo Honda 0.145 0.145
4 71 Japan Ayumu Sasaki KTM 0.240 0.240
5 40 South Africa Darryn Binder Honda 0.499 0.499
6 55 Italy Romano Fenati Husqvarna 0.711 0.711
7 17 United Kingdom John McPhee Honda 0.918 0.918
8 37 Spain Pedro Acosta KTM 0.745 0.745
9 11 Spain Sergio García GASGAS 0.861 0.861
10 24 Japan Tatsuki Suzuki Honda 0.963 0.963
11 12 Czech Republic Filip Salač Honda 1.080 1.080
12 27 Japan Kaito Toba KTM 1.351 1.351
13 23 Italy Niccolo Antonelli KTM 1.429 1.429
14 82 Italy Stefano Nepa KTM 4.472 4.472
15 52 Spain Jeremy Alcoba Honda 12.491 12.491
16 43 Spain Xavier Artigas Honda 23.493 23.493
17 28 Spain Izan Guevara GASGAS 23.499 23.499
18 54 Italy Riccardo Rossi KTM 23.609 23.609
19 20 France Lorenzo Fellon Honda 23.774 23.774
20 22 Elia Bartolini KTM 39.959 39.959
21 19 Indonesia Andi Gilang Honda 40.023 40.023
22 32 Takuma Matsuyama Honda 40.035 40.035
  53 Turkey Deniz Öncü KTM    
  16 Italy Andrea Migno Honda    
  67 Italy Alberto Surra KTM    
  31 Mexico Adrian Fernandez Husqvarna    
  99 Spain Carlos Tatay KTM    
  73 Austria Maximilian Kofler KTM    
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