Moto3 Catalonia Barcelona Race: Garcia, Alcoba, Öncü!

5th, 1st, 2nd and 1st, these are the positions obtained by Gabriel Rodrigo (Honda, Team Gresini Moto3, #2) during FP1, FP2, FP3 and Q2 of this Catalan Grand Prix, 7th round of the Moto3 World Championship.

It remains of course to materialize in the race, which in this category will certainly not be an easy task, but the Argentine driver did not fail to make a good impression during the first two days of his Grand Prix at home, since if his papers are Argentinian, the boy was indeed born (and lives) in Barcelona!

However, he is currently only in 10th place in the world hierarchy, which diminishes the thought that he will automatically crush this race which is contested over 21 laps of the renovated route of the Barcelona-Catalunya circuit.

Of course, the undisputed leader of the championship, Pedro Acosta (KTM, Red Bull KTM Ajo, #37), completely missed out on qualifying and will only start from 25th position, but we know the phenomenon and the category too well to think that this will be prohibitive!

In fact, the intersection between the starting grid composed of gabriel rodrigo (Honda, Team Gresini Moto3, #2), Jeremy Alcove (Honda, Team Gresini Moto3, #52), Niccolo Antonelli (KTM, Reale Avintia, #23), Stefano Nepa (KTM, BOE Owlride, #82), Izan Guevara (GasGas, Gaviota Aspar Team, #28), John mcphee (Honda, Petronas Sprinta Racing, #17), Darryn binder (KTM, Petronas Sprinta Racing, #40), Tatsuki suzuki (Honda, SIC58 Squadra Corse, #24), Jaume Masia (KTM, Red Bull KTM Ajo, #5), Riccardo rossi (KTM, BOE Owlride, #54), Roman Fenati (Husqvarna, Sterilgarda Max Racing Team, #55), Deniz Oncu (KTM, Red Bull KTM Tech3, #53) and the current world championship standings (Acosta, Masiá, Sasaki, Garcia, Fenati, Binder, Migno, Antonelli) could suggest that Romano Fenati et Darryn binder have the best chance of winning in Catalonia.

 

 

But that would be to ignore the inventiveness of the young talents who will now battle it out for 21 laps and especially the downhill straight line of 1047 meters which promises us a great redistribution of the cards with each pass!

The weather seems better than this morning, with a partial return of the sun and temperatures of 25° in the air and 35° on the track.

 

 

Who will show their cards at the best time during this Grand Prix of Catalonia ? Before answering this question, here is the table which summarizes the facts known so far.

Catalunya-Barcelona Moto3™	2020	2021 (New turn #10)
FP1	1'48.853 Raúl Fernández	1'48.467 Sergio Garcia
FP2	1′.49.134 Jaume Masia	1'47.950 Gabriel Rodrigo
FP3	1'48.635 Tony Arbolino	1'47.761 Stefano Nepa
Q1	1'48.894 Alonso Lopez	1'48.529 John McPhee
Q2	1'47.762 Tony Arbolino	1'47.597 Gabriel Rodrigo
Warm Up	1'49.715 Niccolò Antonelli	1'48.839 John McPhee
Course	Binder, Arbolino, Foggia	Garcia, Alcoba, Öncü
All time lap record	1'47.762 Tony Arbolino 2020	1'47.597 Gabriel Rodrigo

 

Even before departure... Ricardo Rossi makes a mistake in the warm-up lap.

 

 

When the red lights go out… The poleman takes the holeshot in front Niccolo Antonelli et Jeremy Alcoba.

 

https://twitter.com/MotoGP/status/1401470066663755776

 

Overtaking begins immediately then, in the straight line, Izan Guevara takes advantage of the aspiration to take the lead while gabriel rodrigo demoted to fifth place. Here we go for the remaining 20 laps…

Darryn binder regains command on the next pass but the platoon remains grouped. Still for the Petronas team, John mcphee takes over while a first group breaks away, including 19 pilots.

 

https://twitter.com/MotoGP/status/1401471309826174976

 

The Scotsman achieves the feat of staying in the lead for several laps while with 16 laps remaining in the race, there are three of them who have widened a tiny gap of 3/10: John McPhee, Gabriel Rodrigo and Darryn Binder.

The next straight line replaces Gabriel Rodrigo in the lead while 7 drivers have now opened up a small gap on the peloton led by Jaume Masia (KTM, Red Bull KTM Ajo, #5).

 

 

All this is very ephemeral and it is a new regrouping that we are witnessing, now led by Jeremy Alcoba before Sergio García.

 

 

12 laps from the checkered flag, John mcphee loses control of his Honda exiting turn #2. Andrea Migno and Tatsuki Suzuki are the collateral victims of this error by the Scotsman.

 

 

During this time, we find in mind nothing more and nothing less than Peter Acosta, started 25th on the starting grid!

 

 

Roman Fenati and Denis Öncü then take command but there are still 10 laps remaining and nothing is decided... especially since there are still 15 of them in a leading group which now has an eight-second lead over the peloton.

Denis Öncü, Pedro Acosta and Gabriel Rodrigo leadership is exchanged in turns, and the latter even manages to take a 4/10 lead four laps from the checkered flag.

The Argentinian managed to maintain command until two laps from the finish, when his teammate Jeremy Alcoba take over.

Sergio García took command and crossed the finishing straight first, but a racing incident involving Ayumu Sasaki, Dennis Foggia and Xavier Artigas away from the cameras results in the red flag being raised and the provisional classification possibly being called into question.

 

 

The decisions of the race direction are arriving little by little: Jaume Masia must only make a place for the benefit of Denis Öncü for going out too many times on the green zone.

 

 

First podium for Deniz Oncu !

 

 

Second victory for Sergio Garcia, after the one acquired at Le Mans!

 

https://twitter.com/MotoGP/status/1401482138134925317

 

Ranking of the Moto3 Catalan Grand Prix in Barcelona:

Classification credit: MotoGP.com