The battle for second in the World Championship heats up ahead of qualifying at Sepang
Leopard Racing’s Dennis Foggia remains the pace-setter after Moto3™ FP3 at the PETRONAS Grand Prix of Malaysia but the rider who he is trying to usurp for second in the World Championship, Sergio Garcia (Gaviota GASGAS Aspar Team) has now secured a berth in Q2 this Saturday afternoon. Garcia looked on shaky ground as he still sat 14th on combined times in the final minutes of FP3 but then jumped up the order. He did not earn FP3 bragging rights – they go to David Muñoz (BOE Motorsports) on a 2:12.418 – and Foggia achieved a 2:12.226 in FP1, but it is job done for now for the Aspar man. Teammate Izan Guevara (Gaviota GASGAS Aspar Team) also earned a bye past Q1 in his first round as the new World Champion, but Deniz Öncü (Red Bull KTM Tech3) will have to go the long way around if he is to take pole position.
A slow start gives way to a frantic finish
Overnight rain left significant damp patches around the circuit and a number of riders decided that the safety of their boxes was a better option than venturing out of pit lane, at least for a while. Guevara was fastest for the session on a 2:14.141 before Carlos Tatay (CFMoto Racing PruestelGP) became the first rider to improve relative to his Friday effort when he fitted new rubber and clocked a 2:13.521 with less than six minutes to go. The effort only moved him up to 17th on combined times but it was a warning shot for Garcia, who was 14th-quickest on Friday and therefore in the danger zone.
Indeed, Garcia was next to move the Saturday morning benchmark with a 2:13.508 but that was still slower than he had gone 24 hours earlier. The Spaniard then punched out a 2:12.801 to get himself into safety, before Ayumu Sasaki (Sterilgarda Husqvarna Max) pipped him by a single thousandth of a second and then Muñoz beat them both with the chequered flag out. The top five for the session would therefore be Muñoz, another rider who needed to improve in order to clinch his Q2 berth in the form of Tatsuki Suzuki (Leopard Racing) on a 2:12.559, Guevara on a 2:12.721, Sasaki on a 2:12.732, and Garcia.
Who else has made Q2 already?
Foggia was only 10th for the session on a 2:13.307 but still boasts the fastest lap of the weekend, from Sasaki, Muñoz, Suzuki, Guevara,…