Italian Moto3: Foggia holds off rivals for home win in Mugello

Dennis Foggia lead the final lap and benefited from the tussles behind him to take victory in the Moto3 Italian Grand Prix, round six of the championship.

UPDATE: It was announced shortly after the race that Jason Dupasquier had succumbed to his injuries and sadly passed away.

The Leopard rider did much of the early legwork but at a track where a slipstream over the line can pick up a handful of places the lead changed hands in the Tuscan sunshine lap after lap.

Foggia found himself in front at the start of the last lap on the Honda after successfully towing past fellow countryman Romano Fenati, who was then stuck in battle with Jaume Masia.

The Italian took advantage to pull out a small lead, which was enough to lead over the line by 0.036s for Foggia’s second career win (the first was Brno last season) and just his second points finish this year.

The KTM of Jaume Masia couldn’t quite make up the difference after pulling into second, still feeling the effects of the hand injury he picked up in Le Mans for Red Bull and making the most of his hard tyre gamble.

Third went to Gabriel Rodrigo, who topped warm-up, just the second podium appearance for the Argentine rider. Like all the podium finishers he dedicated his finish to Jason Dupasquier, with the Gresini rider also remembering his late brother on an emotional race day for the paddock.

Podium celebrations were subdued, with no champagne sprayed as more news is awaited on Dupasquier’s condition.

Ayumu Sasaki, who was involved in Dupasquier’s fall, put in an incredibly brave performance to claim fourth for Red BUll KTM Tech 3.

Darryn Binder was amongst the many race leaders on his way to fifth at the chequered flag for Petronas Sprinta Racing.

Former Mugello winner Romano Fenati was disappointed with sixth after Masia’s move past him took the Italian out of contention for the race win for Sterilgarda Max Racing Team.

John McPhee crossed the finish line ninth on the second Petronas entry, but was elevated to seventh after both Pedro Acosta and Sergio Garcia were demoted a place for exceeding track limits o the final lap.

Championship leader Acosta had the chance to show the world what he can do from the front of the grid after claiming a season best of second in qualifying on Saturday.

Thoroughly in the mix and  leading the way on several occasions, with fifteen riders in the mix it was always a battle to be in the right place at the right time and the rookie lost out slightly on the final lap, seventh at the line for Red Bull KTM Ajo, he was shuffled back to eighth post-penalty.

That sees him keep his lead in the title hunt with a total of 111 points. Masia is his nearest rival on 59 after Mugello.

Garcia was moved down to ninth but remained the best GasGas rider for Aspar. 

Tatsuki Suzuki started from pole for the second time this year, and did his share of time out front on his way to tenth for SIC 58 Squadra Corse.

Second in Le Mans, Filip Salac just missed out on another top ten finish in eleventh for Rivacold Snipers.

Kaito Toba picked up places late on to claim twelfth for CIP Green Power.

Niccolo Antonelli was 13th for Avintia Esponsorama, Stefano Nepa was 14th after receiving a time penalty for not completing his in race long lap penalty. The final point went to Jeremy Alcoba who dropped to the back of the pack as he seemed to be affected by his injuries from yesterdays accident. 

Xavier Artigas (Leopard Racing) was handed a double long lap penalty for riding slowly between turns twelve and thirteen in Q1. He was still the best of the rest in a distant 16th at the line.

The first lap was incident packed - Adrian Fernandez and wildcard Alberto Surra tangled at the first corner, shortly before Deniz Oncu took himself out of contention.

Almost instantly at the same corner Max Kofler collected Andrea Migno, with Carlos Tatay unable to avoid the crash - his bike continued to the other side of the track. Migno watched his home grand prix unfold sat on the hillside. Kofler was taken to hospital for further checks.

The CarXpert PruestelGP team withdrew from the race weekend to support Jason Dupasquier at the hospital in Florence.

 It was announced almost immediatley after the race that Jason Dupasquier had succumbed to his injuries and sadly passed away.