Foggia And His NSF250RW Take Their Third Victory of 2021
MotorLand AragónDennis Foggia (Leopard Racing Honda NSF250RW) secured a breathtaking victory in the Aragon Moto3 race, using the stunning speed of his NSF250RW to take the lead on the back straight, just moments before the chequered flag was waved.
His entire race was a perfect illustration of a winning Moto3 race strategy – always fighting in the pack, making some fantastic moves on his rivals but most important of all saving his best for the last lap.
This was Foggia’s third win of 2021 – following his successes at Mugello and Assen – and it was much deserved for the 20-year-Italian, who also regained third place in the points chase, which keeps him in the battle for the World Championship.
The race was a typical Moto3 encounter, with at least ten riders racing each other in the lead group, with multiple position changes, frequent collisions and several crashes. Foggia’s team-mate Xavier Artigas (Leopard Racing Honda NSF250RW) was one of the innocent victims. Artigas was in the midst of the battle and hoping to join Foggia on the podium, until a rival crashed and took him out. He was unhurt in the incident.
Andrea Migno (Rivacold Snipers Team Honda NSF250RW) and pole-sitter Darryn Binder (Petronas Sprinta Racing Honda NSF250RW) also played a significant part in the lead pack, crossing the finishing line in sixth and seventh, only 1.180 and 2.133 seconds off the win.
Tatsuki Suzuki (SIC58 Squadra Corse Honda NSF250RW) also started from the front row of the grid, running with the leaders throughout and finishing ninth, less than three seconds behind Foggia.
Gabriel Rodrigo (Indonesian Racing Gresini Moto3 Honda NSF250RW) made it an all-Honda front row in qualifying but tumbled in the race.
Yuki Kunii (Honda Team Asia Honda NSF250RW) didn’t have a great qualifying yesterday, which put him 25th on the grid, with lots of work to do. However, the 18-year-old from Setagaya who is contesting his second World Championship season, reacted strongly.
Kunii did his best to score more points, finally completing the race in 17th, only 0.392 seconds off the last points scorer in 15th.
Andi Farid Izdihar (Honda Team Asia Honda NSF250RW) had high hopes of another points-scoring ride after making some significant improvements with his team during warm-up. However, the 23-year-old Indonesian’s bike didn’t react as expected in the race and he struggled to keep pushing at the limit.
The Moto3 grid is now packed up and on its way to Misano, Italy, for next weekend’s San Marino Grand Prix, which begins with first practice on Friday morning.
That was an incredible last lap with Deniz Öncü (KTM) – he was so strong on braking but my bike was fast and I so wanted to win. Also this makes the World Championship open because of a few crashes in the race. I want to say a big thank you to my team, my family and my dad.
My start was bad. After that I tried to recover but when I caught the group I was unable to fight with them. I wasn't comfortable on the bike, going on the limit, so it wasn't possible to stay there. I tried to continue fighting until the end, but I cannot be happy about this race. I'm sorry because I couldn't do my best. Next race at Misano, I will try to do it much better than this race.
Honestly I was confident at the beginning of the race. This morning during warm-up we made some changes and the bike was good. But after five laps I started to feel the bike very different. I tried to continue but I could not continue with the group. As much I pushed, the worse was the lap time. That is something to analyse for the next race.
