Sasaki susses out Red Bull Ring for the win!

August 23, 2022

Moto3 CryptoDATA Motorrad Grand Prix von Osterreich. Red Bull Ring.2022

Qualification:

Moto3 is known as the teenage class and Junior World Champion Daniel Holgado made his point by putting his Red Bull KTM in pole position. He says it is one of his favourite tracks and there’s nothing like impressing the boss on home ground. Ayumu Sasaki was on P2 and Deniz Oncu P3.
Ayumu Sasaki was to start the race with a double long-lap penalty hanging over him

The Race:

Daniel Holgado pulled away cleanly from the start and had a slight edge until the first turn when he was taken by Deniz Oncu and Ayumu Sasaki, with a bunch of riders behind them all fighting for position. By lap 2 Sasaki had the lead with Oncu P2 and now Tatsuki Suzuki P3 and Holgado P4, Sasaki had the long lap penalties looming and looked like he was getting some clean air to do them.

Twenty-one laps to go, a long way, and Ayumu Sasaki took the first of his long laps, and this looked like a disaster as he went from P1 to P19, as Daniel Holgado went into the lead with Oncu P2 and Suzuki P3. Meanwhile, Sergio Garcia, the championship leader was P5 from P11, and tussled with David Munoz, who was ahead in P4, and it was not long before Munoz took the lead from Deniz Oncu.

Eighteen laps to go and it was Izan Guevara in the lead with Tatsuki Suzuki P2 and David Munoz P3, Sergio Garcia P4, but Oncu had lost his way and was P8. Ayumu Sasaki had taken his second long lap and was in P21, a long way from Guevara, but he was posting quick times on his fight back to the front. Twelve laps to go and Izan Guevara was holding the lead after seven laps, with Suzuki P2, Deniz Oncu P3, and Ayumu Sasaki P4; this was an incredible comeback for the likeable young Japanese rider, as the Sterilgarda Husqvarna Max team looked on in awe.

With eleven laps to go, halfway through the race, Ayumu Sasaki took the lead, a sensational move having fought his way back from P21, Tatsuki Suzuki was P2, Izan Guevara P3 and Sergio Garcia P4. Now in clean air, Sasaki was the pacesetter, with the others chasing him down, and it was close, with a group of eight riders all in the running.

Ayumu Sasaki had to have nerves of steel as for ten laps Tatsuki Suzuki had been chasing him down, and waiting to take the spoils was Deniz Oncu in P3 and David Munoz in P4. As it came to the last lap the scrap between the two Japanese riders was interrupted by David Munoz trying to take Suzuki, but Tatsuki was focused on Ayumu, and tried his best to take him on the last corner, but it was Ayumu Sasaki who took the chequered flag! This was nothing short of incredible for Sasaki who had taken two long-lap penalties, was at one point P21, and then the win.