Foggia Wins Epic British Moto3 Race
Dennis Foggia (Leopard Racing Honda NSF250RW) won a brilliant victory at the end of a frantic British Moto3 race, putting himself right back in the contest for the 2022 World Championship.
The 21-year-old went into the 12th race of the 20-round season 67 points off the championship lead. Today’s victory, his second of the year and his first since the Indonesian Grand Prix in March, has moved him to within 42 points of the lead, after both riders ahead of him in the title fight crashed out at Silverstone.
The race was hectic, to say the least, with around 20 riders in the lead group and innumerable overtaking manoeuvres. At the chequered flag the top ten were covered by 1.790 seconds!
Foggia and team-mate Tatsuki Suzuki (Leopard Racing Honda NSF250RW) were in the fight for the podium throughout, but there was so much passing that one moment they were first and second and the next they were fourth and fifth.
Foggia therefore rode the perfect race. Each time he was relegated he immediately counter-attacked. He started the last lap in fifth place, taking the lead for the last time with an audacious move, passing the leader around the outside at the high-speed Turn 12. At the chequered flag he was 0.252 second ahead of his closest pursuer.
Suzuki’s last lap didn’t go well. The 24-year-old from Chiba was fighting to join Foggia when he slid off without injury.
Honda’s next best finisher was Andrea Migno (Rivacold Snipers Team Honda NSF250RW), who finished ninth, just 1.108 seconds behind Foggia, a difference of just 0.06 seconds per lap!
Grand Prix rookie Mario Suryo Aji (Honda Team Asia Honda NSF250RW) had a great first race at Silverstone. The 18-year-old Indonesian charged through from 28th on the grid to join the huge leading group and finish 17th, just 1.5 seconds outside scoring World Championship points for the first time since his first points score in Indonesia.
However for team-mate and fellow rookie Taiyo Furusato (Honda Team Asia Honda NSF250RW) there was instead disappointment. The 17-year-old from Kanoya qualified a best-ever 17th quickest and had high hopes of scoring his first points. However, another rider collided with him on the first lap, pushing him off track, losing him a lot of time. He finished 18th, just two tenths of a second behind his team-mate.
Moto3 now returns to Europe for the Austrian Grand Prix at Red Bull Ring on 21 August.