Dennis Foggia claimed his first ever Moto3 victory at Brno as he held off Albert Arenas and Ai Ogura across the final tour.
The Leopard Racing man featured in the leading group throughout the 18 lap encounter, but hit the front in the final few tours as the race closed ever quicker on its climax.
Foggia led the way onto the final lap ahead of an aggressive-looking Ogura, who attempted to dive past for the lead at Turn 4-although the Leopard Honda managed to fend off the Japanese ace’s advances.
The Italian looked vulnerable though as he entered the final sector of the lap, the uphill Horsepower Hill giving his pursuers a golden opportunity to slipstream past to snatch victory away.
Foggia was thrown a lifeline by championship leader Albert Arenas though, who slipped through up the inside of Ogura for second at Turn 11, giving Foggia a small gap heading towards the final esses section at the peak of the hill.
This small advantage was ultimately enough for Foggia as he took the chequered flag 0.205 clear of Arenas, who just managed to hold off Ogura as the Honda Team Asia rider tried to retake the runners-up position by going around the outside of the final turn.
Niccolo Antonelli bagged fourth just behind the leading trio, with John McPhee completing the top five after the Scotsman fell back slightly on the final tour.
Pole-man Raul Fernandez brought his Ajo-run KTM home in sixth position ahead of Gresini’s Jeremy Alcoba and Tony Arbolino.
Romano Fenati took ninth as the last of the leading bunch of riders, with tenth placed Stefano Nepa over seven seconds back from the rest of the group.
Several high-profile riders got mired in the slower second group that formed at around the mid-point of the contest, including ’19 Brno lightweight class winner Kaito Toba, recent form man Darryn Binder and both VR46 pilots of Celestino Vietti and Andrea Migno-the foursome crossing the line together from 11th to 14th respectively.
Gabriel Rodrigo was another to struggle, the Argentinean falling through the field from his front row starting spot to 19th by the end having made several mistakes during the race.
Tatsuki Suzuki continued to display the strong shown over the opening few events across the early stages of the race, but crashed out from fifth after tucking the front of his SIC58 Honda and Turn 10 just past mid-distance.
He was then followed out of the race by the second Leopard machine of Jaume Masia, the Spaniard sliding out from second in similar circumstances to Suzuki at Turn 11 just a few tours from the end.
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