Leopard Honda’s Angel Piqueras competed a remarkable Moto3 win at Misano in the San Marino Grand Prix.
For the second occasion in a week a Spanish teenager walked the top step of the podium for the first time, following KTM Ajo’s Jose Antonio Rueda’s success in Aragon last Sunday.
The 17-year-old had to negotiate two Long Lap penalties after a collision with Britain’s Scott Ogden on Saturday and charged back from the deficit to defeat GASGAS Tech3’s Daniel Holgado by 0.035s — the closest ever race finish at Misano.
The triumph signified the first win for the 2023 Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup champion in his debut Moto3 term after a gripping race between five riders at the front and frequent overtaking.
Holgado was runner-up for his sixth podium finish of the season and rose to second in the championship standings as a consequence. MT Helmet-MSI’s Ivan Ortola was the first KTM rider in the classification and rounded out an all-Spanish top three.
Honda Team Asia’s Taiyo Furosato took his Honda to fourth and the Japanese’s contact with world championship leader David Alonso on the last lap of 22 dropped the Columbian to sixth; later the CFMOTO Aspar man was demoted to seventh after a track limits infringement on the same circulation. Alonso’s championship lead has been trimmed to 70 points
Australian Joel Kelso was therefore pushed up to sixth on the BOE KTM. Husqvarna IntactGP’s Tatsuki Suzuki rode from 23rd on the grid to finish eighth.
Honda riders Luca Lunetta and Adrian Fernandez were both adjudged to have jumped the start and had to serve two Long Lap penalties. Lunetta had qualified on the front row and the sanction snuffed out hopes of home glory but he rallied to ninth. SIC58’s Filippo Farioli was 10th.
Rueda went from the high of home grand prix spoils to the low of a second corner crash as his race lasted all of a few seconds, while BOE Motorsports’ David Munoz and CIP Green Power’s Ricardo Rossi were the other fallers in the incident.
Moto3 San Marino GP — Race results
| 1 |
Á. Piqueras Leopard Racing |
36 | Honda | 20 | 148.9 | 25 | ||||
| 2 |  D. Holgado Red Bull GASGAS Tech3 |
96 | GASGAS | 20 | 0.035 | 148.9 | 20 | |||
| 3 |
I. Ortola MT Helmets — MSI |
48 | KTM | 20 | 0.191 | 148.9 | 16 | |||
| 4 |  T. Furusato Honda Team Asia |
72 | Honda | 20 | 0.033 | 148.9 | 13 | |||
| 5 |
C. Veijer Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP |
95 | Husqvarna | 20 | 0.232 | 148.9 | 11 | |||
| 6 |  J. Kelso BOE Motorsports |
66 | KTM | 20 | 0.486 | 148.8 | 10 | |||
| 7 |
D. Alonso CFMOTO Gaviota Aspar Team |
80 | CF MOTO | 20 | 148.9 | 9 | ||||
| 8 | T. Suzuki Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP |
24 | Husqvarna | 20 | 3.160 | 148.6 | 8 | |||
| 9 |
L. Lunetta SIC58 Squadra Corse |
58 | Honda | 20 | 3.033 | 148.4 | 7 | |||
| 10 |
F. Farioli SIC58 Squadra Corse |
7 | Honda | 20 | 1.299 | 148.3 | 6 | |||
| 11 |
D. Almansa Kopron Rivacold Snipers Team |
22 | Honda | 20 | 0.034 | 148.3 | 5 | |||
| 12 |
J. Roulstone Red Bull GASGAS Tech3 |
12 | GASGAS | 20 | 0.278 | 148.3 | 4 | |||
| 13 |  A. Fernandez Leopard Racing |
31 | Honda | 20 | 0.966 | 148.2 | 3 | |||
| 14 |  S. Nepa LEVELUP — MTA |
82 | KTM | 20 | 0.545 | 148.2 | 2 | |||
| 15 |  S. Ogden FleetSafe Honda — MLav Racing |
19 | Honda | 20 | 1.156 | 148.1 | 1 | |||
| 16 |
N. Fabio LEVELUP — MTA |
10 | KTM | 20 | 6.055 | 147.7 | ||||
| 17 | R. Yamanaka MT Helmets — MSI |
6 | KTM | 20 | 13.362 | 146.7 | ||||
| 18 |
X. Zurutuza Red Bull KTM Factory Racing |
85 | KTM | 20 | 1.557 | 146.6 | ||||
| 19 |
J. Rosenthaler Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP |
34 | Husqvarna | 20 | 0.097 | 146.6 | ||||
| 20 |
N. Dettwiler CIP |
55 | KTM | 20 | 5.942 | 146.2 | ||||
| 21 |
T. Buasri Honda Team Asia |
5 | Honda | 20 | 0.068 | 146.2 | ||||
| 22 |
J. Esteban CFMOTO Gaviota Aspar Team |
78 | CF MOTO | 20 | 5.812 | 145.8 | ||||
| dnf | M. Bertelle Kopron Rivacold Snipers Team |
18 | Honda | 16 | 4 Laps | 148.7 | Accident | |||
| dnf | V. Pérez FleetSafe Honda — MLav Racing |
21 | Honda | 16 | 4.295 | 148.3 | Accident | |||
| dnf |
J. Antonio Red Bull KTM Factory Racing |
99 | KTM | 0 | Accident | |||||
| dnf | D. Munoz BOE Motorsports |
64 | KTM | 0 | Accident | |||||
| dnf | R. Rossi CIP |
54 | KTM | 0 | Accident |
Ai Ogura, MT Helmets MSI
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Moto2 was aced by MT Helmets -MSI’s Ai Ogura, as the MotoGP-bound Japanese rider beat Fantic Racing’s Aron Canet and Marc VDS’ Tony Arbolino for his third victory of the campaign.
KTM Ajo’s Celestino Vietti tumbled out of contention for victory from fourth with three laps to go at Turn 16.
QJMotor Gresini’s Manuel Gonzalez rode to a lonely fourth as a result, as Aragon GP winner CFMOTO Aspar’s Jake Dixon capped the top five.
Another MotoGP class conscript for next year, Sync SpeedUp’s Fermin Aldeguer, erased some of the disappointment of his crash at Aragon last weekend with sixth place.
Arbolino’s team-mate, Filip Salac took seventh and headed the four-way fight between Italtrans Racing’s Diogo Morira, QJMotor Gresini’s Albert Arenas and IntactGP Husqvarna’s Darryn Binder in 10th.
SpeedUp Racing’s Alonso Lopez crashed on lap two and later received a Long Lap penalty for exceeding track limits.
Sergio Garcia made an emotional charge from 24th on the grid to 12th but was unable to prevent Ogura from taking the Moto2 championship lead, the Spaniard in tears after the race, while the Japanese rider is now nine points ahead of his MT Helmets – MSi team-mate at the top of the standings.