Foggia Faces Big Title Fight At Misano
Misano World Circuit Marco SimoncelliTreacherous cold and wet conditions didn’t help Honda’s Moto3 World Championship hope Dennis Foggia (Leopard Racing Honda NSF250RW) at Misano this afternoon, the 20-year-old securing a fifth-row start for tomorrow’s hugely important Grand Prix of Emilia-Romagna.
Foggia has built incredible momentum over the past five races, with five podiums, including two victories, to reduce championship leader Pedro Acosta’s advantage from more than 90 points to 30, with three races remaining.
Foggia therefore needs to defeat Acosta once again tomorrow to keep his title hopes alive. But while Foggia will start from 14th on row five, Acosta will get his race underway from fifth place on row two.
The super-close nature of Moto3 racing may help Foggia, so long as he can get with the lead group in the early stages of the 23-lap race.
So far every session this weekend has been run in soaking wet or damp conditions, but tomorrow is expected to be dry, so this will be the first time during this event that riders will use slick tyres. Therefore the morning warm-up session will be vital, as riders and teams work to get the best set-up for dry conditions.
Honda’s best qualifier day was Alberto Surra (Rivacold Snipers Team Honda NSF250RW), the 17-year-old Italian rookie who made his GP debut at May’s Italian GP. Surra has yet to score GP points, so his aim tomorrow is to make the top 15 for the first time, from seventh on the grid.
Two places further back, also on the third row, is Xavier Artigas (Leopard Racing Honda NSF250RW). Honda’s third qualifier is John McPhee (Petronas Sprinta Racing Honda NSF250RW) in 12th.
Yuki Kunii (Honda Team Asia Honda NSF250RW) qualified 13th, three places off his best-ever, which gives the 18-year-old from Setagaya a real chance of achieving his fifth points-score this year.
Next to Kunii and Foggia on the fifth row will be Andi Farid Izdihar (Honda Team Asia Honda NSF250RW), the 23-year-old Indonesian qualifying 15th, equalling his career best in the class, and his first time this season in the Q2 qualifying session. Izdihar’s aim is to return to the points-scoring positions for the first time since August’s Austrian GP at Red Bull Ring.
Grand Prix first-timer Mario Suryo Aji (Honda Team Asia Honda NSF250RW) had a great start to his GP debut, ending yesterday’s two wet sessions an impressive seventh fastest.
Today the 17-year-old Indonesian qualified 23rd, to put himself on the eighth row, between fellow NSF250RW riders Andrea Migno (Rivacold Snipers Team Honda NSF250RW) and Tatsuki Suzuki (Sic58 Squadra Corse Honda NSF250RW).
Tomorrow’s Moto3 race is the 16th of 18. The season ends with next month’s back-to-back Algarve and Valencia rounds.
Track conditions were a little bit better today, compared with yesterday. I had a good feeling in FP3 but I could only do a good lap time just at the end. I had confidence in myself in wet conditions. In Q2, the conditions were tricky because the asphalt was coming dry, and we went with rain tires. That is a difficult combination to manage for me because I haven't enough experience. Finally, I will start tomorrow from P13. Tomorrow it seems it could be dry. I will fight to stay on the group as much as possible.
We've found tricky conditions today, half dry, half wet. We needed to manage well this situation. On FP3, I felt good, and also, in Q2, but I made a mistake on the last lap, losing time when I had options to be two or three positions more in front. The most important is the race of tomorrow. I feel that we have everything under control. Dry or wet, it doesn't matter; I'm concentrating on doing my best.
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Today, I lived a new experience, my first qualifying practice in the World Championship. It has been difficult for me because riders are waiting even more than in the Junior World Championship. The track conditions were tricky, with the last sector much wetter than the rest of the circuit, and I had no confidence there. Tomorrow it seems the weather will be better. I prefer to race in dry conditions. But we're ready to learn in every condition.
