Styrian Moto3: Acosta takes stunning win, Garcia second despite fall

The battle for victory had a breakaway duo at the front, with Pedro Acosta and Sergio Garcia bringing action to every lap of the Moto3 Styrian Grand Prix in trecherous drying conditions at Spielberg, for an electric round ten of the championship.

Turn three brought the most action as over and over the Red Bull KTM Ajo rider rehearsed his final lap overtake, only to have Garcia take him straight back every time.

That saw the race go to the wire, with the same result at that turn on the final lap. Acosta applied the pressure and although there was no contact, Garcia pushed too hard to keep in touch and crashed in the final corner.

The number 37 ran wide, but no penalty was applied, leaving him to claim his fifth win in the first ten races of his rookie season, extending his championship lead to 53 points in the process, with a total of 183.

He dedicated his victory to Hugo Millan, who recently passed away after being hit by another motorcycle in the European Talent Cup.

The gap created by the duo at the front meant that, as he reacted so quickly to his predicament, GasGas rider Garcia was able to remount and still cross the line second, keeping him second in the title hunt to his race rival as the gravel flew when he crossed the line just over 14 seconds behind Acosta.

The battle for third arrived at the line shortly after, with Romano Fenati, who lead briefly at the start of the race thanks to a flying start off the line, managing his tyres best to claim the position at the chequered flag.

It is Fenati’s third podium of the season, and marks back-to-back rostrum appearances following his third place last time out in Assen.

That left Jaume Masia on the second Red Bull entry fourth and staring at his tyres rather than take the Sterilgarda Max racing Husqvarna riders offer of a handshake.

Ayumu Sasaki remained the holder of the fastest lap set in the weekend before the race and performed well in the tricky conditions for a lonely fifth for Red Bull KTM Tech 3 on his return form injury.

Darryn Binder was one of seven rider to take a slick tyre gamble, but it didn’t quite pay off, the Petronas Sprinta rider made the fastest laps of the race over the closing stages, but it was too late to catch the leaders. He picked off enough other riders to claim sixth.

The last person he passed was Ryusei Yamanaka (CarXpert PruestelGP) who still claimed a best ever finish of seventh.

Fellow counrtyman Yuki Kunii also took his best finish in eighth for Honda Team Asia.

Maximilian Kofler is the only home rider on the grid in Spielberg. The CIP Green Power rider spent much of his race in sixth before fading a little in the final laps. The Austrian still also managed a best ever finish of ninth on his return after missing three rounds with a fractured vertebrae. 

Adrian Fernandez completed the top ten on the second Sterilgarda Max Racing entry.

Filip Salac was next to see the chequered flag in eleventh on the second Pruestel bike, closely followed by both Kaito Toba (CIP Green Power) and John McPhee, another tyre gambler like his team-mate Binder, in 13th.

The remaining points on offer went to Izan Guevara in 14th for Santander Consumer Racing GasGas and Tatsuki Suzuki in 15th for SIC58 Squadra Corse.

Assen winner Dennis Foggia struggled in the wet and was down in 22nd, dropping the Leopard rider one place in the overall standings.

Polesitter Deniz Oncu was demoted to the back of the grid as the team were working on the bike to change tyres after the three minute warning board on the grid. His found his slick tyres difficult to manage in the early stages leading to a series of small mistakes. He finished 21st.

Andi Farid Izdihar crashed twice, with Alberto Surra’s replacement at the Snipers Team, David Salvador the only other faller.

Xavier Artigas missed warm-up due to an inconclusive Covid test. A second test gave a positive result, leading to him missing the race.

Niccolo Antonelli was absent from the race after fracturing his right hand in qualifying. Carlos Tatay also took no part in the Styrian grand prix.