Husband Ayumu Sasaki in Austria – Japanese rider wins after catching up ahead of Tatsuki Suzuki and David Munoz – Sergio Garcia defends World Championship lead
Ayumu Sasaki showed a catch-up performance in the Moto3 race at the Austrian Grand Prix. Two long-lap penalties threw the Husqvarna rider far behind. But from outside the top 20, Sasaki set the fastest lap times at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, overtaking rival after rival and racing across the finish line in first place. After Assen, he celebrated his second Grand Prix victory.
“I don’t even know how I did it! I just didn’t give up,” said Sasaki of his hussar ride. “I made a mistake at Silverstone and got punished. This season is really not easy for me, but I overcame every hurdle and just didn’t give up.”
At the start of the 23-lap race, everything went well in the first few tight corners. Sasaki initially took the lead of the field ahead of Deniz Öncü (KTM) and Tatsuki Suzuki (Honda). Sasaki had to do two long lap penalties because of a penalty from Silverstone.
By the time Sasaki had both of them behind him, the Japanese rider was only 24th. In the first third of the race, the KTM duo Öncü and Daniel Holgado took the lead. Rookie David Munoz (KTM) had a strong opening phase, coming from 16th on the grid and was already third after four laps.
WHAT A MOVE! @david64official is on fire!
He’s into the lead from 16th! AustrianGP pic.twitter.com/q6uPPAdEoH
– MotoGP™ (@MotoGP) August 21, 2022
At the start of lap five, Munoz took the lead for the first time. But no one was able to pull away. Positions changed frequently in the large leading group. As so often, the slipstream played a decisive role.
Sasaki starts his chase
On the home straight, one rider could overtake up to four competitors in one go. Therefore, it remained exciting and spectacular. Sasaki worked his way well through the field. By lap nine, the Japanese rider was back in the top 10, with Sasaki setting the fastest laps.
At this point a GasGas rider, Izan Guevara, took the lead for the first time. But Sasaki made up position after position. By lap eleven he was already fifth. Two laps later he overtook his compatriot Suzuki and was the new second behind Guevara.
And in turn three, Sasaki grabbed the lead again. The 21-year-old kept up the high pace and immediately pulled away from the chasers by a few metres. Suzuki hung in the slipstream and was able to keep up, but couldn’t launch an attack.
Rookie Munoz takes second podium
At the beginning of the last lap the leading group was Sasaki, Suzuki, Öncü and Munoz. In turn 3 Munoz pushed past Öncü on the inside to take third place. Munoz also put pressure on Suzuki, but the order remained unchanged (see race result)
HOW on earth is @AyumuSasaki1 doing this?!
HE LEADS and there’s still over 10 laps to go! AustrianGP pic.twitter.com/cckbWnboOM
– MotoGP™ (@MotoGP) August 21, 2022
From the moment he took the lead, no other rider was ahead. “I knew I was going to have the penalties. So I thought, I’ll just have to go faster than everyone else to still win the race.”
“Luckily it was dry. I didn’t make any mistakes and was even faster on the last lap than in qualifying,” cheered Sasaki. “Hopefully we can still catch the guys at the front of the world championship standings in the last seven races.”
For Suzuki, second place was his third podium of the season and his best result this year. Munoz, who was competing in only his sixth race in the World Championship, was on the podium for the second time.
Garcia defends World Championship lead
Öncü missed out on the podium by 0.052 seconds. Sergio Garcia (GasGas) extended his World Championship lead in fifth place. Moreira, Guevara, Holgado, John McPhee (Husqvarna) and Kaito Toba (KTM) completed the top 10.
Friendly fire! @garciadols11 biffs @IzanGuevara28 out the way! AustrianGP pic.twitter.com/t26fTaLzrB
– MotoGP™ (@MotoGP) August 21, 2022
With this result, Garcia now has a five World Championship points lead over his teammate Guevara. Dennis Foggia (Honda), who finished twelfth in Spielberg, is 49 points back in third in the WRC. Sasaki improved to fourth place in the World Championship. He is 55 points behind (in the overall World Championship standings).
For the PrüstelGP team from Saxony, Xavier Artigas (CFMoto) collected WRC points in 14th place. His team mate Carlos Tatay had to retire after a crash in turn 3.
The next Grand Prix will take place on 4 September in Misano (Italy).
