Race report

Moto3 Valencia

Valencia Moto3: Garcia wins madcap red-flagged finale by 0.005s

EG0,0 rider Sergio Garcia took his maiden Moto3 victory in a chaotic season finale in Valencia, which was both delayed and red-flagged, as debutant Xavier Artigas starred.

David Gruz

Edited: Nov 17, 2019, 11:39 AM

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Alonso Lopez, Estrella Galicia 0,0, Sergio Garcia, Estrella Galicia 0,0

Before the race even started there were already two crashes when Aron Canet's bike started to leak oil on the circuit, causing him and Ayumu Sasaki to fall at Turn 6 on the sighting lap.

The start was delayed by 11 minutes and Jaume Masia high-sided out of second place at Turn 4 when the race finally kicked off, gifting Marcos Ramirez a healthy lead already on the opening lap.

But the red flag came out just two laps into the race as a result of a mass crash.

It was initiated by Carlos Tatay crashing at Turn 11 - the reigning Red Bull Rookies Cup champion was hit by Jeremy Alcoba and Niccolo Antonelli, but Dennis Foggia was the most unlucky victim of the crash as he, along with Makar Yurchenko, hit Tatay's bike.

All riders were conscious, but the doctors tended to Foggia for a long period before the Italian was taken to the medical centre.

With less than three laps completed, the race was restarted with the original grid order, allowing Andrea Migno a second chance to make up for a poor initial start.

Migno had a better getaway for the second time but Ramirez was back ahead by Turn 2, and the Spaniard led in the early stages.

Another multi-bike crash shook up the order, caused by champion Lorenzo Dalla Porta passing Tony Arbolino and subsequently crashing, collecting his former title rival as well as Alonso Lopez and John McPhee.

Rookie Sergio Garcia passed Ramirez six laps into the second race but Xavier Artigas stole the show, the debutant carving his way through the field and soon joining the lead group.

Artigas, riding for Leopard, was in the lead by lap nine and showed blistering pace, also helped by Migno and Garcia battling for second place behind him.

Artigas led until the penultimate lap when he made a mistake at Turn 1 and Migno and Garcia moved into first and second.

Garcia went for overtakes on Migno at both T2 and T4 but Migno responded instantly and the Italian led until the last lap when Garcia finally made a move stick into the long left-hander.

Migno tried to slipstream his way back into the lead out of the last turn and in the end missed the victory by five-thousandths of a second.

Garcia celebrated his maiden victory in Moto3, while Artigas took the final podium spot, having passed Suzuki at the final turn.

Filip Salac (Pruestl) was fifth with Canet taking sixth as Ramirez dropped back to seventh.

Sky VR46 rider Celestino Vietti finished eighth from Makar Yurchenko (RBA BOE), who was able to restart after his initial crash, and Ai Ogura (Honda Team Asia).

UPDATE: Foggia was hospitalised after suffering a concussion in his crash while Masia dislocated his left shoulder. Both riders were declared unfit.

Cla Rider Bike Laps Gap 1 Spain Sergio García
Honda 15 2 Italy Andrea Migno
KTM 15 0.005 3 Xavier Artigas
Honda 15 0.180 4 Japan Tatsuki Suzuki
Honda 15 0.246 5 Czech Republic Filip Salač
KTM 15 0.328 6 Spain Arón Canet
KTM 15 3.016 7 Spain Marcos Ramirez
Honda 15 3.032 8 Italy Celestino Vietti Ramus
KTM 15 9.666 9 Kazakhstan Makar Yurchenko
KTM 15 9.747 10 Japan Ai Ogura
Honda 15 9.859 11 Italy Stefano Nepa
KTM 15 9.975 12 Turkey Can Öncü
KTM 15 10.223 13 Japan Kaito Toba
Honda 15 10.537 14 Italy Riccardo Rossi
Honda 15 10.712 15 Czech Republic Jakub Kornfeil
KTM 15 12.661 16 Japan Kazuki Masaki
KTM 15 14.116 17 Italy Romano Fenati
Honda 15 17.669 18 United Kingdom Tom Booth-Amos
KTM 15 31.008 19 Japan Ayumu Sasaki
Honda 15 43.939 20 Spain Albert Arenas
KTM 14 1 Lap 21 Italy Lorenzo Dalla Porta
Honda 12 3 Laps Spain Alonso López
Honda 9 6 Laps Spain Raúl Fernández
KTM 6 9 Laps Italy Tony Arbolino
Honda 3 12 Laps John McPhee
Honda 3 12 Laps South Africa Darryn Binder
KTM 2 13 Laps Spain Jaume Masia
KTM 0 Carlos Tatay
KTM 0 Italy Niccolo Antonelli
Honda 0 Spain Jeremy Alcoba
Honda 0 Italy Dennis Foggia
KTM 0 View full results

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