Foggia Aims To Repeat Stunning Aragon Victory
Misano World Circuit Marco SimoncelliDennis Foggia (Leopard Racing Honda NSF250RW) arrives at Misano for his second home race of 2021 following a stunning victory at Aragon last Sunday.
The 20-year-old Italian has now scored three wins this year – at Mugello, Assen and Aragon – which puts him third overall in the Moto3 World Championship standings with five races remaining, only 12 points behind the rider in second place.
Honda’s NSF250RW machine dominated the first of last year’s two Moto3 races at Misano, with Honda riders taking the first seven finishing positions, covered by just eight tenths of a second. Foggia finished that race in ninth place – less than a second behind winner John Mcphee (Petronas Sprinta Racing Honda NSF250RW).
The second best-placed Honda rider is currently Darryn Binder (Petronas Sprinta Racing Honda NSF250RW), who scored his second pole position of 2021 at Aragon. The 23-year-old South African followed that with seventh in the race, only 2.1 seconds behind Foggia.
This Sunday’s race will no doubt be similarly closely fought, with Foggia and Binder aiming to use the fine handling of their NSF250RW machines to fight their way to the front of the pack.
For Yuki Kunii (Honda Team Asia Honda NSF250RW) this will be a weekend to get back on track after three challenging races that followed his best-ever eighth place achieved at August’s Styrian GP. The 18-year-old from Setagaya knows he has the speed to compete inside the top ten in only his second World Championship season.
Kunii’s team-mate Andi Farid Izdihar (Honda Team Asia Honda NSF250RW) has scored points on three different occasions so far this season – at the French, German and Austrian GPs – and his intention is to make it four scores at Misano. This will be the 23-year-old Indonesian’s first visit to the track on a Moto3 bike, because last year he contested his rookie season in Moto2.
Four races remain after Sunday’s event: the Grand Prix of the Americas, the Emilia Romagna GP (also at Misano), the Algarve GP and the Valencia GP.
Last weekend was really tough and difficult for me but now we have another race right way and another chance. Misano is a very different track from Aragon, but my target is always the same – to try to improve my riding, my feeling with the bike and everything else. I learned a lot at Aragon, even though the result was not the best. Now we will keep working and the team will work hard, trying to keep going and make me as fast as possible.
At Misano last year I raced in the Moto2 class, but this year I will be in Moto3. I think I will adapt faster and of course I will try my best. The main thing this weekend will be to take the positive points we got in Aragon and to keep improving.