Austrian Moto3: Garcia grabs last lap victory from Oncu

Sergio Garcia closed the gap on Championship leader Pedro Acosta thanks to a well timed move on the last lap of the Moto3 Austrian Grand Prix, round eleven of the championship.

The Santander Consumer GasGas rider qualified down in 14th (but started 13th following Gabriel Rodrigo’s pit lane start) but immediately worked his way into the lead group.

Learning from last week at the same track where he did much of the work up front only to land in the gravel just before the end of the race - but with enough of a gap to still take second - in Styria this time out Garcia was content to sit in the group.

Starting the last lap down in third, the Spaniard saw his opportunity to take an inside line and attack Acosta which sat him right behind Oncu.

The number eleven took his opportunity to hit the front at turn nine, where he lost out last time, and was ready with a block to keep ahead and held hold his form over the line, winning by a slim 0.027s.

It is Garcia’s third win and brings KTM owned GasGas a victory at their home track.

Deniz Oncu, using the new solid rear wheel cover, lead much of the race, but the intelligent last lap from Garcia meant he would not see a first win. however, the Turkish rider was still able to take his best result to date in second for Red Bull KTM Ajo.

Dennis Foggia was the only Honda able to keep pace with the lead group. Sitting on the back of the pack, the Leopard rider only showed his hand on the penultimate lap to move into contention and then claim the final podium spot. 

Rookie Pedro Acosta won in Spielberg last weekend and was in the mix to do so again, but was beaten in the run to the line by the Italian. Fourth for the Red Bull KTM rider is enough to retain the championship lead. Garcia taking maximum points cuts his advantage down to 41 points on a total of 196.

Pole man Romano Fenati got off to a flying start and regularly showed he could hit the front and lead thanks to his amazing speed out of the corners. The Sterligarda Max Racing rider had to settle for fifth in the highly competitive final lap.

Jaume Masia was the last of the lead group to cross the line in sixth on the second Ajo entry.

Izan Guevara had all but caught the frontrunners on the penultimate lap and brought John McPhee with him, splitting the Petronas pair on track.

McPhee overtook in the closing stages to snatch a seventh place finish, with the GasGas rookie rider pushed back to eighth.

Darryn Binder was lucky to escape a penalty after giving Ayumu Sasaki no chance to stay upright as he attempted a pass early in the race. Race Direction declared no further action would be taken, leaving the South African clear to take ninth.

Kaito Toba was almost four seconds adrift of him, but completed the top ten finishers for CIP Green Power.

Tatsuki Suzuki (SIC58 Squadra Corse) faded badly from his front row start, but improved to eleventh by the chequered flag.

Filip Salac was a distant twelfth for CarXpert PruestelGP.

The Czech rider just held of Sefano Nepa (BOE Owlride) who crossed the line 13th. The remaining points went to third place qualifier, Gresini’s Jeremy Alcoba in 14th and Honda Team Asia’s Andi Farid Izdihar in 15th.

Maximilian Kofler is the only Austrian rider in the paddock, he finished his home grand prix in 22nd after fading in the closing stages.

Niccolo Antonelli was replaced at Avintia by Elia Bartolini (23rd) after he broke his wrist at the track last weekend.

Adrian Fernandez retired after twelve laps. Andrea Migno’s weekend went from bad to worse, after failing to make it out of Q1, the Italian was the first to exit the race, after being tagged by his Rivacold Snipers team-mate, replacement rider David Salvador.

Ryusei Yamanaka was declared unfit to take any further part in the race weekend after his crash involving Gabriel Rodrigo in FP3. Rodrigo was 20th following his pit lane start and long lap penalty.

Leopard’s Xavier Artigas was also absent as he continues to isolate following his positive Covid test.