German Moto3: Acosta returns to winning ways in Sachsenring thriller

Pedro Acosta sat waiting to pounce behind Dennis Foggia and made his move on the final lap stick to take victory in the Moto3 German Grand Prix, round eight of the championship.

The Red Bull KTM Ajo rider steered clear of trouble for another Sunday comeback after starting thirteenth on the grid in a race peppered with crashes and penalties.

The teenager made his final push for the podium count. His fourth win in his rookie season came after he took his tighter line to hit the front at the start of the final lap and held firm to lead over the line by 0.130s.

With tyre wear to contend with and a close fight for the win at the front, Acosta declared it his best victory to date. His championship points tally now sits at 145, an increased 55 clear of second placed Sergio Garcia.

Kaito Toba ran an aggressive race to keep in the lead group, giving everything for CIP Power, the Japanese rider wobbled and bobbled about in the run to the final corner to take second, his first rostrum appearance this season.

Jeremy Alcoba’s move on the penultimate lap took Garcia out of contention. The move was deemed irresponsible and the Spaniard ordered to give up a position. Instead the Gresini rider made gains, moved into second briefly and crossed the line third.

Alcoba was instead demoted a place post-race, but initially refused to move, took the number three board and had photos with his team.

It was however long-term race leader Dennis Foggia who would take to the podium, the highest placing Honda despite losing out for Leopard on track in the final few corners after a strong showing in the race.

Andrea Migno finished the race fifth for Rivacold Snipers, with Niccolo Antonelli (Avintia Esponsorama) promoted to sixth after further penalties were handed out after the chequered flag for track limits infringements.

That dropped Catalunya winner Garcia to seventh for Gaviota GasGas Aspar, and Tatsuki Suzuki (Sic 58 Squadra Corse) to eighth.

Xavier Artigas was the last of the lead group in ninth for Leopard.

Izan Guevara lead the chasers but could not bridge the gap caused by earlier crashes. He finished inside the top ten for Aspar.

John McPhee was right behind him on track. The British rider rallied in the face of the upheaval in his part of the Petronas Sprinta garage but was hit with more bad luck when he was forced to ride around the crash which saw Ryusei Yamanaka , Deniz Oncu, Stefano Nepa and Lorenzo Fellon all effected and sent Romano Fenati wide.

Elia Bartolini returns to sit in for Carlos Tatay at Avintia. He was twelfth in a race which only saw eighteen finishers after serving his own penalty for exceeding track limits.

Also taking the flag in the points were Fenati ( Sterilgarda Max Racing Team) who was another rider served a long lap penalty for his later moves in the race, wihich he completed and still came out where he went in - 13th.

Darryn Binder started 18th after being shown the black flag for his contact with replacement rider Joel Kelso in Q1. Ahead of the race the South African was also handed a long lap penalty to serve in the race. He finished 14th on the second Petronas entry.

Andi Farid Izdihar took 15th for Honda Team Asia. 

The remaining finishers were Dennis Oncu, who recovered from his earlier crash involvement for 16th, Joel Kelso replacing Max Kofler at CIP Green Power in 17th and Yamanaka in 18th.

Filip Salac started the race from pole, a first for the Czech teenager, but he later retired to the pits.

Jaume Masia nudged off Yuki Kunii and was handed a long lap penalty, but crashed out soon after, clipping Foggia on the way who was lucky to stay on and claim a podium finish.

Gabriel Rodrigo had progressed from 19th to sixth before he too crashed out of contention.

Riccardo Rossi and Adrian Fernandez also failed to finish.

Ayumu Sasaki remains absent as a precaution following the concussion he was diagnosed with after his last crash at Catalunya. He is not replaced by Red Bull KTM Tech 3.