Cruel Luck For Honda’s Moto3 Title Challenger Foggia
Autódromo Internacional do AlgarveThe brilliant Dennis Foggia (Leopard Racing Honda NSF250RW) had his hopes of winning the 2021 Moto3 World Championship dashed on the final lap today when he was taken out of the race by Darryn Binder (Petronas Sprinta Racing Honda NSF250RW). Binder was later disqualified for the move.
Foggia went into the race 21 points behind series leader Pedro Acosta and needed to beat his rival to keep his title hopes alive going into next weekend’s season-ending Valencia Grand Prix.
The 20-year-old Italian had been the strongest rider during the last few races, closing from 97 points down in August. And he rode a stunning race today, leading 16 of the 21 laps, resisting attack after attack and when he was passed he was able to fight back successfully.
Foggia took the lead from Acosta for the last time halfway through the penultimate lap. However, on the final lap Acosta retook him at Turn Three, forcing him slightly wide. Binder went for the gap and hit Foggia, knocking him off. And that was the end of his championship dream, following his five wins and five further podiums from the first 17 races.
While a distraught Foggia returned to pit lane the podium battle continued all the way to the flag, with Andrea Migno (Rivacold Snipers Team Honda NSF250RW) chasing winner and new World Champion Acosta over the finish line, just three tenths of a second away from his first win of 2021.
This was Migno’s best result of the year so far, bettering his third places at April’s Portuguese GP here and September’s San Marino GP at Misano. The 25-year-old Italian was delighted with the result, which should guarantee him a top-ten World Championship finish.
Honda’s other top-ten finishers today were Jeremy Alcoba (Indonesian Racing Gresini Moto3 Honda NSF250RW) in fourth, Foggia’s team-mate Xavier Artigas (Leopard Racing Honda NSF250RW) in eighth and Tatsuki Suzuki (SIC58 Squadra Corse Honda NSF250RW) in ninth, who finished only three seconds behind the race winner!
Yuki Kunii (Honda Team Asia Honda NSF250RW) started well and was riding well in the group, until he made a minor error and ran wide at the first corner, which lost him positions and contact with the fast riders ahead of him. That left the 18-year-old from Setagaya to finish the race in 20th place.
Team-mate Andi Farid Izdihar (Honda Team Asia Honda NSF250RW) had a great weekend at Misano two weeks ago but was unable to reproduce that form at this very particular circuit. The 23-year-old Indonesian missed Q2 yesterday which left him far back on the grid, which compromised his race. The finished in 22nd position.
The 2021 Moto3 season ends next weekend at Spain’s Ricardo Tormo circuit outside Valencia.
That was a great race. We fought at every corner from the first lap to the last lap. On the last lap I was in the right place when that incident happened and so we got a podium. These last races of 2021 are like preparation for 2022, so a race like this really helps.
At the beginning of the race I was struggling but maintaining a stable position in the group. Also, the lap times were good. But I made a mistake in braking, going wide at Turn One. There I lost contact with the group, but I had a good pace riding alone; this is the positive point of today. I've been getting more confident during the weekend, but we must analyse why some practices were excellent, and others were bad. The next race will be the last of the season, and I'll try to do my best and to enjoy it.
After a good weekend in Misano, we arrived here, and I can say this race wasn't easy. These days I felt good and I missed the Q2 just for a small mistake. The consequence was a bad position on the grid. Starting from the back everything is more difficult because you need to try to overtake many riders. But, despite this, I’ve seen some positives that we will try to apply next weekend in Valencia.
