Dennis Foggia powered to a second career Moto3 win in the Italian Grand Prix at Mugello as he held off KTM Ajo’s Jaume Masia for supremacy at the death.
Foggia was one of the main leading protagonists throughout the 20 lap encounter after starting fourth, the Leopard Racing rider able to use the impressive straight-line performance of his Honda machine to muscle his way to the head of the field by the end of Mugello’s 1.1 kilometre front stretch.
Countryman Romano Fenati as well as series leader Pedro Acosta and Gabriel Rodrigo were his main challengers throughout the contest, each taking turns at leading the way as they tried to position themselves in the best places to try and realise victory in the closing tours.
The high-speed nature of the Mugello venue meant that a 15-strong lead group would remain clubbed together across the entire race distance, with riders falling from the head of the train to outside the top ten in just the ten seconds it took to transit the straight.
Fenati was the man to lead the field onto the straight to begin the final tour, though he found himself pushed back to second as the flying Foggia zipped past on the run to Turn 1, leaving the MAX Racing man to fend off the advances of the chasing Rodrigo and Ayumu Sasaki behind.
The battle for second allowed Foggia the narrowest of breathing room, the ex-VR46 ace leading the way into the final bend as Masia and Rodrigo closed in.
The duo’s attempts proved futile though as Foggia opened up his lightning-quick Honda on the run to the line to take the chequered flag just 0.036s clear of Masia, while Rodrigo completed the rostrum in what is his first trip to the box this season.
Sasaki came home fourth ahead of Petronas SRT’s Brad Binder, while Fenati found himself shuffled back through the pack on the final lap on his way to an eventual sixth position finishing spot.
Acosta also found himself outmanoeuvred across the final few miles to grab seventh at the line, the championship leader sitting outside the top ten just over a lap from the finish.
French GP victor Sergio Garcia was eighth ahead of John McPhee, while pole-man Tatsuki Suzuki struggled to fight back to the lead battle after dropping back in the latter stages to end the encounter tenth.
Le Mans podium finisher Filip Salac was 11th ahead of Kajto Toba, while Niccollo Antonelli beat Stefano Nepa and Jeremy Alcoba to round out the points finishers.
Andrea Migno saw the promising form he had put on display throughout the weekend go to waste after being involved in a crash with Maximillian Kofler, Deniz Oncu and Carlos Tatay at the quick Savelli left-hander on the opening circulation.
The Snipers pilot was forced to watch the rest of the race from the sidelines as his machine suffered too much damage, though luckily all four riders caught up in the incident walked away without injury.
The second Prustel GP machine of Ryusei Yamanaka failed to start as the squad elected to miss the rest of the weekend following the crash of the Japanese rider’s team-mate Jason Depasquier in Saturday qualifying out of respect for the Swiss ace as he fights for life at hospital in nearby Florence.
Acosta’s points lead has increased to a commanding 52 over team-mate Masia despite his seventh place run, the battle for second remaining tight with the following Sasaki, Garcia and Fenati all less than three points behind Masia heading to Barcelona next weekend.
