Aspar’s David Alonso became Colombia’s first-ever motorcycle world champion after winning his 10th Moto3 race of the season at Motegi.

Alonso sealed a dominant title with his victory over Collin Veijer. With his 14th Moto3 win overall, he also became the rider to with the most victories in the class.

It was a good start from poleman Ivan Ortola who was able to get the run down into Turn 1 ahead of Alonso and Veijer. 

Holgado, the main championship challenger to Alonso, got off the line fantastically to move up from ninth to third, overtaking the Colombian in what could have been a vital move for the title fight. 

Adrian Fernandez was another rider who had a fine opening lap and was able to push Alonso back a further place and into the clutches of Leopard teammate Piqueras.

Fernandez was clearly buoyed by his first podium in Mandalika and was able to pass Holgado and Ortola to take early control of proceedings. 

At the midpoint of the race, the fastest laps flew in as the riders looked to keep in touch with the leading trio of Fernandez, Ortola, and Piqueras. The second and third-placed men set successive race lap records. 

With eight laps to go, Alonso decided to turn up the heat and broke the lap record that had been set just laps before as he overtook Piqueras in an attempt to keep tabs on his nearest contender Holgado. 

As the pace appeared to tumble, it was the Colombian with all the momentum and he was able to overtake both Holgado and Ortola to get up to second to put himself in a strong position for the title.

The leading group appeared to have become a group of six, but was reduced to five when Piqueras slid out and crashed when attempting to rejoin.  

Alonso took the lead with three laps to go and tried to break away from Fernandez and Ortola to give himself the best shot of taking both the race and the Moto3 title.

Ortola was pushing hard to stick with Alonso and the pressure proved too much as the Spaniard crashed out of the race.

Battles behind allowed Alonso to clear off into the distance as he took the flag to take both the victory and the title in Motegi. 

Veijer was victorious in his battle with Fernandez as he crossed the line in second ahead of the Spaniard in third.

Holgado was disappointed in fourth after losing out on the title while Jose Antonio Rueda finished fifth for KTM Ajo. 

Home hero Ryusei Yamanaka took sixth, leading compatriot Tatsuki Suzuki over the line in seventh.

David Munoz finished the race in eighth ahead of Japan’s Taiyo Furusato in ninth, while Stefano Nepa rounded out the top 10. 

The Snipers duo of Matteo Bertelle and David Almansa took the chequered flag in 11th and 12th, a second clear of Filippo Farioli in 13th.

Riccardo Rossi came home in 14th, while Joel Esteban completed the points finishers in 15th.

The post Record-breaking David Alonso seals Moto3 championship after Motegi victory appeared first on Motorsport Week.

Aspar’s David Alonso took a remarkable last-lap victory in Indonesia to increase his championship lead in the Moto3 standings. 

Alonso’s win over Leopard’s Adrian Fernandez means that the Colombian has a championship point to play in Motegi, and could win the title in Japan next weekend. 

MT Helmets’ Ivan Ortola got away well from pole position, but it was Honda Team Asia’s Taiyo Furusato who got the run down to the first corner and was able to overtake the Spanish rider going into Turn 1. 

Furusato was then the one giving the slipstream to his rivals and was overtaken by IntactGP’s Collin Veijer and Fernandez as they looked to clear away from the group with their different hard compound tyres. 

Poleman Ortola had to serve a double long lap penalty due to his third offence for riding extremely slowly on the racing line in qualifying. He took his penalty immediately to allow Alonso to chase after the top three. 

The top ten continued to follow each other closely in the early stages of the race, with very few changes of position occurring amongst the leading group of riders. 

Tatsuki Suzuki appeared to be the one with the pace with 10 laps to go, and pulled moves on Daniel Holgado and Alonso to move up to the podium positions. 

Veijer was looking to take advantage of the battles emerging behind him and attempted to pull a gap to those behind, but he lost the front on the change of direction at Turn 8 and crashed out of the lead of the race.

The Dutchman’s exit from the race allowed Fernandez to take control ahead of Holgado and Suzuki, who were jostling for second behind the new leader. 

With four laps to go, the group decided to up the pace and Fernandez was demoted to fourth after being overtaken by Furusato, Boe Motorsport’s David Munoz and Alonso. 

Furusato attempted to get back on terms with those ahead of him after losing places on the start/finish straight, but highsided out of the race at Turn 1 with three laps to go.

It was a group of six that were going for the win and a slipstream from five riders ahead of him allowed Sic58’s Luca Lunetta to take the lead, which he would lose to Fernandez one lap later. 

Championship leader Alonso made use of his experience fighting for wins on the final lap and once again took charge with a few corners of the race to go, and would take the chequered flag first, ahead of first-time podium finisher Fernandez in second and Munoz in third.  

Leopard’s Angel Piqueras crossed the line in fourth but ran off the track at the final corner, along with fifth-placed finisher Lunetta.

Holgado came home in sixth ahead of Suzuki and Boe Motorsport’s Joel Kelso. 

Ortola eventually took ninth despite having to serve a third long lap in the race for a shortcut, and LevelUp MTA’s Nicola Carraro rounded out the top 10. 

KTM Ajo rider Jose Antonio Rueda took 11th after serving two long lap penalties, ahead of Snipers’ Matteo Bertelle in 12th and MLav Racing’s Scott Ogden in 13th. 

Aspar’s Joel Esteban finished the race in 14th while LevelUp MTA’s Stefano Nepa rounded out the points in 15th despite taking three long lap penalties in the race.

The post David Alonso earns Moto3 championship point after victory in Indonesia appeared first on Motorsport Week.

CFMOTO’s David Alonso didn’t let a long-lap penalty stop him from taking his seventh win of the Moto3 season, claiming victory at the Red Bull Ring in Austria.

The Moto3 Championship leader survived a sustained challenge from multiple riders having fallen to 10th after taking his penalty, showing he is truly the top dog in the Moto3 category.

Alonso was already the star candidate so far this season with six wins in 10 races coming into Austria.

The Colombian started from sixth and had a long-lap penalty looming over him for driving too slow during Qualifying on Saturday.

That meant MT Helmets rider Ivan Ortola, starting from pole, had an opportunity to eat into Alonso’s 53-point lead in the riders’ standings,

Also hoping to capitalise were BOE Motorsport’s Joel Kelso and Husqvarna’s Collin Veijer, who rounded out the front row.

But Ortola was nowhere to be seen on the grid, riding down pit lane as the field roared into life at lights out, with Kelso taking the holeshot from Tech3’s Daniel Holgado and Alonso.

Replays showed Ortola being escorted from his pole slot ahead of the warm-up lap, with a potential stall the likely cause for his trouble.

With the whole field roaring up the hill to Turn 3, Otorla exited the pits, way back from the nearest competitor with a long 20 laps ahead of him.

Meanwhile, an almighty scrap was ongoing for second as BOE’s David Munoz lunged at Alonso and Holgado at Turn 9.

Munoz then gave chase to his team-mate Kelso in the lead, with Alonso third and Holgado fourth.

On Lap 3, Alonso took his long-lap penalty, dropping down to 10th in the order.

Kelso, Munoz and Holgado were showing some steady pace, putting in an eight-tenth gap to the rest of the field on Lap 4.

Munoz was all over the back wheel of his team-mate and his reputation for scrappy racing meant he wouldn’t stand idle in second.

Fourth-placed Ajo KTM rider Jose Antonio Rueda was towing Veijer along on Lap 5, with the duo vying to catch the top three.

There was plenty of space behind Veijer, which led back to a large gaggle of riders that Alonso was fighting his way through.

By Lap 6, Alonso had made it to the front of that pack to claim sixth, as Veijer passed Rueda up ahead to claim fourth.

Time and time again in the opening laps, Munoz pulled out to have a look at Kelso into braking zones, but couldn’t get the move done, frustrating Holgado behind.

Ready to make some progress of his own, Holgado took second heading into Turn 1 at the start of Lap 7.

By Turn 9, Holgado was in the lead, but the shuffling about in the top three meant Veijer and Rueda had closed to within half a second of the leading trio on Lap 8.

Alonso meanwhile, had closed to within seven-tenths of the top five.

By Lap 10, Alonso had that gap down to five tenths as Munoz passed his team-mate Kelso for second at Turn 4.

Alonso was charging hard, towing Leopard’s Angel Piqueras with him and by Lap 10 the leading group had swelled to seven riders as the pack bunched up in true Moto3 fashion.

Lap 11, and over half race distance saw Holgado continuing to lead, Veijer up to second, Munoz third, Kelso fourth and Rueda, Alonso and Piqueras rounding out the top seven.

Just a few tenths back was Adrian Fernandez aboard the second Leopard machine, looking to make it a leading pack of eight as Veijer took the lead into Turn 9.

Munoz then followed Veijer to take second at Turn 1 on Lap 12, as Rueda barged Kelso out of the way, costing them both positions.

Holgado pounced on the pair to take third and as Lap 12 progressed, Piqueras moved himself up to fourth with moves on Alonso and Rueda.

The cork was out of the bottle and riders were putting moves on each other corner by corner as Lap 12 made way for Lap 13.

Scarps between Veijer and Holgado saw the former hold onto the lead and the latter fall to fifth, as Piqueras and Munoz found their way to second and third respectively.

But Munoz didn’t hold onto third for long with Alonso pipping him at Turn 4.

Alonso then swept through into second at Turn 9, poised to chase Veijer as the front pack came onto start Lap 14.

The championship leader had a look at Veijer into Turn 9, but the Dutchman held firm to bravely keep the lead.

A tough block pass by Holgado on Munoz for third Turn 4 on Lap 15 allowed room for Piqueras to pinch fourth as well.

Having failed to pass Veijer the lap before, Alonso took the lead at Turn 9.

Coming onto Lap 16, Munoz forced his way into second at Turn 1, with Piqueras and Holgado also getting through on Veijer, who found himself dropping from first to fifth in the space of a few corners.

Remarkably, the top five held formation for a lap, only for Piqueras to get out of shape at Turn 1 on the start of Lap 17, falling to fourth, then fifth as Veijer pounced up the hill en route to Turn 3.

With three laps remaining, Alonso led from Munoz and Holgado, with Veijer and Piqueras in fourth and fifth respectively as the top five had broken free from Fernandez, Rueda and Kelso.

One lap on and the top five order remained the same, but Piqueras changed that when he passed Veijer for fourth at Turn 3 with a lap and a half to go.

Coming onto the final lap, Alonso led from Munoz, who then ran deep into Turn 1 to allow Holgado and Piqueras through into second and third.

Veijer looked on as a spectator in fifth as Piqueras, Munoz and Holgado scrapped for second.

Holgado won that battle, aiming to challenge Alonso into Turns 9 and 10 but to no avail.

Alonso crossed the line to take his seventh win of the season, extending his championship lead to 71 points in the process as Munoz drafted passed Holgado to take second.

Piqueras took fourth with Veijer rounding out the top five.

2.7s down the road was sixth-placed Fernandez, heading Rueda and Kelso.

Ortola meanwhile, finished a remarkable ninth having had to start from pit-lane as Honda Team Asia’s Taiyo Furusato rounded out the top-10.

CIP’s Riccardo Rossi took 11th with Snipers’ Matteo Bertelle and Husqvarna’s Tatsuki Suzuki in 12th and 13th respectively.

Rounding out the points-paying positions were MT Helmets’ Ryusei Yamanaka and Tech3’s Jacob Roulstone.

The post Alonso battles through to take Moto3 victory in Austria appeared first on Motorsport Week.