Dennis Foggia held off Deniz Oncu to score victory in a thrilling Moto3 contest at the Motorland Aragon circuit as title contenders Pedro Acosta and Sergio Garcia both crashed out.
Foggia held firm within the top ten throughout the 19-lap encounter, the Leopard Racing pilot keeping his powder dry as the likes of Oncu, Acosta and Garcia duelled it out for the lead at the head of the field.
The Italian came to the fore with half-a-dozen circulations remaining though as he began to afford his Honda Moto3 machine some clean air by taking the lead, though Oncu, Garcia and the recovering Izan Guevara-who hard run wide early on and dropped to 15th-kept him honest in the closing stages.
Oncu pulled off a bold move on Foggia towards the start of the final lap, though he wasn’t ruffled as he snapped back to reclaim the leadership on the back straight down towards the final bend, and despite the Turkish ace managing to achieve a strong exit from the turn Foggia held just enough of a lead to streak across the line and claim a third win of the year.
Oncu’s runner-up result was his third rostrum of the year, while Ayumu Sasaki benefitted from Garcia crashing out on the last tour to bag his first podium finish of the year in third.
Guevara ended up fourth after being muscled out by team-mate Garcia on the last lap ahead of Niccolo Antonelli, with Andrea Migno capping off a quiet race to come home sixth for the Snipers squad.
Pole-man Darryn Binder held sway at the front in the early stages but was shuffled back to eighth as the race entered its climactic moments, with Tatsuki Suzuki and Jaume Masia completing the top ten.
Acosta meanwhile was looking to try and further extend his 46 point advantage over Garcia as he pulled several aggressive moves as the race entered its final laps, though a rash dive at Turn 5 with only four laps to go eliminated both him and an innocent Xavier Artigas from the event-Acosta having the lost the front of his Ajo KTM and seeping out the Leopard rider as a result.
This gifted Garcia a golden opportunity to carve a significant chunk from Acosta’s points lead, though it wasn’t to be as the GasGas man lost the front of his machine at Turn 12 on the final lap, the Spaniard remounting but ultimately taking the chequered flag only 18th-preserving Acosta’s significant lead.
Foggia’s win-combined with Romano Fenati not scoring after being forced into the gravel by a crashing Gabriel Rodrigo-sees him move into third in the riders standings, now just 12 adrift of Garcia and 58 behind Acosta-opening up a potential late title tilt with just five races remaining.
