Guevara rubs the salt in with the win

November 9, 2022

Moto3 – Gran Premio Motul de la Comunitat Valenciana.

Qualifying:

On his way to Moto2 for ‘23, Izan Guevara emphasised just how good he is by taking pole position in Valencia. P2 went to Deniz Oncu and P3 to Sergio Garcia, who had to secure second in the championship in this race.

The Race:

Izan Guevara showed his world-class status with a textbook start to take the lead off the line, with Deniz Oncu and Sergio Garcia in close pursuit. Second place in the championship was still to be decided at this race and the two protagonists of Garcia and Dennis Foggia were in P3 and P8 on lap one.

Half distance with eleven laps to go the top three positions had not changed from lap one, with Izan Guevara P1, Deniz Oncu P2 but close enough to worry Izan, and Sergio Garcia P3, now two seconds behind the leaders. Oncu looked quick as usual and was certainly on the heels of Guevara, waiting to pounce.

This was not the most exciting Moto3 race, as there is usually a large group fighting for the win, but this was a two-man race, with Izan Guevara holding station in the lead and Deniz Oncu chasing him down. Dennis Foggia came through to P4 with three laps to go, but Sergio Garcia was strong in P3, so second in the championship looked to be going his way.

On the last lap Deniz Oncu, with his mentor Toprak looking on in the box, made an amazing move on Guevara to take the lead and held Izan off with some defensive riding. As it came to the last corner, Oncu had perhaps gone too defensive and this allowed Guevara to get a tighter line and gain momentum which catapulted him to the finish line. It was some fine riding by both riders, but once again Izan Guevara showed he is the thinking man’s rider and judged the win perfectly.

The Aspar team finished first and second in the championship with Guevara and Garcia, Sergio having lost momentum mid-season and not being able to haul the points back from Izan, at one point the championship could have been his, but consistency wins championships, and that’s what Izan has had in bucket loads.