Izan Guevara streaked to a fifth Moto3 win of 2022 in the Japanese Grand Prix at Motegi after fending off an attack from Dennis Foggia in the closing tours.
The GasGas rider made a blistering start from ninth on the grid to lead the way half-way round the opening lap before immediately trying to stretch the field, a leading quartet made of the Spaniard, Ayumu Sasaki and Leopard riders Foggia and Tatsuki Suzuki being formed.
Suzuki though would soon be swapped out in the leading pack for Jaume Masia as the home hero crashed at Turn 9 early on while trying to maintain pace with the leaders, Sasaki having since moved clear of Guevara.
The pair debated the lead for the remaining laps with Foggia and Masia remaining in close attendance until Guevara elected to put the hammer down with just a few laps to run, Masia taking his moment to scythe through to second and give chase.
His attack wouldn’t last though as he suffered a huge high-side on approach to the final chicane with a couple circulations left to run, leaving Guevara with around a half-second lead over Foggia.
The Italian was powerless to put on a sustained assault on the series lead though and ultimately came four-tenths-of-a-second shy of snatching away supremacy from Guevara, who secured his second straight win in the process.
Sasaki managed to complete the podium in third after dropping back from the leading duo in the climactic laps, the MAX Racing pilot scoring his seventh rostrum result of the year.
Sergio Garcia ended up a distant fourth after lacking the speed to go with the leading group, the second GasGas rider forced to hold on ahead of an attacking David Munoz and Diogo Moreira towards the end, the rookie battle eventually going the way of Munoz ahead of the Brazilian.
John McPhee was seventh on the sister MAX Racing entry ahead of Ryusei Yamanaka’s MSI Helmets bike, with Andrea Migno and Riccardo Rossi’s SIC58-run Honda completing the top ten.
Scott Ogden saw a maiden front row go to waste after running through the gravel just half-a-dozen laps after the start, the Brit finishing the encounter in 20th while Visiontrack team-mate Josh Whatley crashed on lap one after getting collected in a crash with CFMoto’s Carlos Tatay.
Guevara now holds a commanding 45 point advantage in the riders standings with just four races remaining in 2022 over team-mate Garcia, with Foggia a further 18 adrift.
