Dennis Foggia tops the Moto3 FP3 session with Pedro Acosta and Sergio Garcia both safely through to Q2. With not much happening for the majority of the session the final three-minutes were frantically contested.

Moto3 returns this weekend in Spain for the Grand Prix of Aragon. Good weather expected all weekend in the Monegros Desert in North Eastern Spain.

Syarifuddin Azman is the only new face this weekend, stepping into the Petronas Sprinta Moto3 squad to replace John McPhee who gets his first go in Moto2 this weekend. Azman has been racing in the CEV and Asia Talent Cup this season. He was immediately in the limelight yesterday for all of the wrong reasons, after running up the back of Adrien Fernandez into the final chicane.

Red Bull KTM Tech3 rider Deniz Oncu was fastest on Combined Times yesterday, followed by the impressive rookie Izan Guevara, Darryn Binder, Sergio Garcia and Jaume Masia.

Today’s FP3 session got under way and it took a while for anything to happen or for anybody to improve on yesterday’s time. The first crash was Yuki Kunii on his Honda Team Asia bike at Turn three. He was unhurt. Immediately after Kunii’s crash, Rivacold Snipers newbie Alberto Surra was the next to bite the dust. He went down at Turn nine. The marshals pushed him down the hill to get his Honda restarted.

Darryn Binder was the first improver, moving up a position into second. He looks fast again this weekend but only in a group. He was circulating with Dennis Foggia and Xavi Artigas.

Winner last time out, Romano Fenati was doing the same thing again – just riding around in his own. Unfortunately though, this circuit didn’t seem to suit this technique with the 1km long back straight. It showed yesterday, a slipstream is almost a must after Andrea Migno went 0.6 faster in the first three sectors, but crossing the line having lost five tenths because he was on his own.

With 15-minutes to go in the session, not much had really happened. Riders weren’t really improving their times. Dennis Foggia was the first to get to the top of the Combined Times by four tenths of a second on the back of a group. He was quickly knocked off the top by a very fast Gabriel Rodrigo. He has secured a Moto2 ride for next year, so the pressure seems to have been lifted after a few dodgy incidents involving the Argentinian this season.

Izan Guevara made some real use of a slipstream with 12-minutes of the session remaining. He went a full half-a-second faster than Rodrigo, followed by Sergio Garcia and Xavi Artigas. Garcia had a spill at Turn nine, pushing a little too hard and losing the front into the downhill left-hander. He must score this weekend after a disastrous Silverstone race, last time out.

Dennis Foggia got a bit frustrated with the Championship Leader Pedro Acosta, getting in his way coming into the final sector. He parked his bike on the inside of the Spaniard and sat him up on the exit of the final chicane, and this was accompanied with an arm wave and messing up Lorenzo Fellon’s lap.

With five-minutes to go the whole field with the exception of Romano Fenati, Kaito Toba and Izan Guevara were sat in the pits waiting for the final hectic runs at the perfect lap. Pedro Acosta was sat in 20th so he needed to get out and improve with his rival Sergio Garcia in second.

With three- and- a-half minutes to go riders started dawdling in pitlane (this is allowed) to try to find the perfect man to follow. A minute later, the majority of the grid rolled out of pitlane. Fenati carried on riding around on his own, but couldn’t get any higher than seventh without the slipstream.

Niccolo Antonelli was on a fast lap but he caught the dawdling group which upset his lap. He went fourth. Fenati was the first to take the flag and it seemed unlikely his seventh position lap time would survive. Deniz Oncu went second followed by Lorenzo Fellon who went fourth.

Pedro Acosta was quick in the first three sectors but came into the back straight with nobody to follow. Dennis Foggia went top by 0.025 seconds on his last attempt. Izan Guevara was second with Darryn Binder in third. Gabri Rodrigo crossed the line and went fourth with Deniz Oncu in fifth. Sergio Garcia went sixth. Niccolo Antonelli was rapid through the first three sectors but only managed seventh with his final stab with the young Frenchman Lorenzo Fellon in eighth. Pedro Acosta went ninth and was safely through to Q2. Romano Fenati just squeezed through into Q2 in 13th.
With all of the top riders in Q2, it looks nicely set for a fantastic qualifying session later today.

Featured Image: Dennis Foggia Racing Page.