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Assen Moto3: Foggia claims victory by 0.078s from Garcia; Acosta fourth

Leopard Honda’s Dennis Foggia won a tense Moto3 Dutch Grand Prix by 0.078 seconds, while championship leader Pedro Acosta claimed fourth a day after being hospitalised with a back injury.

Dennis Foggia, Leopard Racing

Dennis Foggia, Leopard Racing

Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

There was drama before the race had even got underway, after Race Direction slapped six riders – Jaume Masia, Lorenzo Fellon, Yuki Kunii, Andi Farid Izdihar, Joel Kelso and Takuma Matsuyama – with ride through penalties for irresponsible riding.

Romano Fenati also had a double long-lap penalty to serve after an incident in practice and tried to break away early on when he grabbed the holeshot at the start.

The Max Racing rider served his first penalty loop on lap three, relinquishing the lead to Leopard Racing’s Dennis Foggia for the first time.

Fenati came out in ninth after his first penalty and dropped to 14th after his second, though would work his way back into podium contention in the latter stages.

Foggia was passed by the Aspar GASGAS rider Sergio Garcia at the Stekkenwal right-hander on the fourth lap, though Foggia found his way back into the lead at the end of the following tour.

Championship leader Acosta was declared fit to race after suffering an upper back injury in a horrible collision in FP3 on Saturday, which forced him out of qualifying and into 18th on the grid.

By the end of lap five Ajo KTM rider Acosta had worked his way to eighth and quickly bridged the gap to the leading seven, dragging the gaggle of riders behind him along to create a lead group of 13 at one stage.

Pedro Acosta, Red Bull KTM Ajo

Pedro Acosta, Red Bull KTM Ajo

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Garcia and Foggia would trade the lead on several occasions as the 22-lap race wore on, with Fenati returning to the front of the pack on lap 19 when Foggia made a mistake at Stekkenwal.

But the Leopard Honda rider regrouped and was back at the front by the end of the tour, before upping his pace to try and break away,

Foggia led Garcia and Fenati at the start of the final lap, with SIC58 Honda’s Tatsuki Suzuki just cut adrift by over four tenths in fourth.

Into the final sector Foggia had built up enough of a gap to protect him against attack into the Geert Timmer chicane, with the Leopard rider taking his second win of 2021 by 0.078 seconds from Garcia, with Fenati completing the podium despite his penalties.

Darryn Binder recovered from a massive moment at the fast Ramshoek left-hander late on to take the chequered flag in fourth – though the Petronas Sprinta rider was docked three spots for exceeding track limits, promoting Acosta to fourth.

Binder’s penalty promoted Suzuki and the sister Petronas Sprinta Honda of McPhee up to fifth and sixth, with Gresini’s Gabriel Rodrigo eighth.

Xavier Artigas was ninth on the second Leopard Honda, with poleman Jeremy Alcoba (Gresini) a distant 10th after a crash for Snipers Honda’s Andrea Migno and Avintia’s Niccolo Antonelli at the Strubben hairpin on lap 10 broke up the lead group.

Antonelli did remount to finish 14th, while Migno pulled out.

Garcia’s second has slightly cut Acosta’s championship lead to a still sizeable 48 points heading into the five-week summer break.

Moto3 Assen race results - 22 laps

Cla Rider Bike Time Gap
1 Italy Dennis Foggia Honda -  
2 Spain Sergio García GASGAS 0.078 0.078
3 Italy Romano Fenati Husqvarna 0.207 0.207
4 Spain Pedro Acosta KTM 1.352 1.352
5 Japan Tatsuki Suzuki Honda 1.445 1.445
6 United Kingdom John McPhee Honda 1.510 1.510
7 South Africa Darryn Binder Honda 1.338 1.338
8 Argentina Gabriel Rodrigo Honda 9.095 9.095
9 Spain Xavier Artigas Honda 9.140 9.140
10 Spain Jeremy Alcoba Honda 10.383 10.383
11 Italy Stefano Nepa KTM 13.503 13.503
12 Spain Izan Guevara GASGAS 13.555 13.555
13 Japan Kaito Toba KTM 21.057 21.057
14 Italy Niccolo Antonelli KTM 22.090 22.090
15 Turkey Deniz Öncü KTM 27.036 27.036
16 Elia Bartolini KTM 35.745 35.745
17 Japan Ryusei Yamanaka KTM 35.801 35.801
18 Italy Riccardo Rossi KTM 35.811 35.811
19 Italy Alberto Surra Honda 35.879 35.879
20 Spain Jaume Masia KTM 45.670 45.670
21 France Lorenzo Fellon Honda 1'03.492 1'03.492
22 Joel Kelso KTM 1'03.552 1'03.552
23 Japan Yuki Kunii Honda 1'03.769 1'03.769
24 Indonesia Andi Gilang Honda 1'03.979 1'03.979
25 Takuma Matsuyama Honda 1'04.137 1'04.137
  Mexico Adrian Fernandez Husqvarna    
  Italy Andrea Migno Honda    

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