Honda’s Suzuki Misses Austrian GP Victory By 0.064 seconds!
Red Bull Ring - SpielbergTatsuki Suzuki (Leopard Racing Honda NSF250RW) rode a brilliant race in Austria today, battling for victory throughout the 23 laps and taking the chequered flag just six hundredths of a second shy of victory.
The 24-year-old from Chiba charged through from the third row of the grid to take the lead at the start of the second lap and from then on he was in the thick of the fight, riding as hard as ever as he sought his first victory of 2022. This was his best result of the year so far, bettering the two third places he scored at June’s Italian and Catalan Grands Prix.
Suzuki now stands seventh overall in the championship chase, with 13 races done and seven to go.
This year Suzuki has often been overshadowed by team-mate Dennis Foggia (Leopard Racing Honda NSF250RW), who has so far scored two victories, including last time out at Silverstone at the British GP, and three other podiums.
Today the 21-year-old Italian was out of luck, suffering from a fever which left him severely short of physical strength. In the early stages Foggia was inside the top ten, but he couldn’t maintain that speed over full-race distance, so he gradually lost several places, but he gritted his teeth in the final laps and fought his way back to 12th, for four valuable championship points. He maintains his third place in the championship standings.
Riccardo Rossi (Sic 58 Squadra Corse Honda NSF250RW) had high hopes of contesting a podium result today after qualifying fourth, but he finished the first lap tenth and gradually fell down the order and out of the points.
Riccardo Rossi (SIC58 Squadra Corse Honda NSF250RW) missed the points by one place, while impressive rookie Scott Ogden (VisionTrack Racing Team Honda NSF250RW) was running just outside the points and crossed the line 16th, only to be dropped to 21st by a time penalty for exceeding track limits.
Mario Suryo Aji (Honda Team Asia Honda NSF250RW) had a busy ride to 24th, learning much at this very special circuit, both during practice and in the race. Team-mate Taiyo Furusato (Honda Team Asia Honda NSF250RW) had high hopes of a strong ride and made a great start. But he was unable to maintain such an impressive pace and he slipped back to 25th.
The Moto3 action now moves to Italy, for the San Marino GP, on September 4, which is followed by the Aragon GP and the first Japanese GP since 2019.
Of course I’m not 100% happy with second place but what’s important is that I did 100% of what I could do. Fighting with all the other bikes around here at Red Bull Ring was really tough, but I’m happy to be here on the podium.
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Overall it has been a tough weekend, but from the data I saw that I have been consistent. From two days of practice we get a lot of positive things. The result isn't there, but my team and I keep the motivation for the next race in Misano to make it better from the beginning.
I made a fantastic start to the race, being 17th, but I couldn't follow the top group. My lap time wasn't fast enough to be there. Then I lost many positions, so I can't be happy about this. I hope the next race will be better.
