Moto3: Arenas Leads KTM’s Charge to the Styrian Grand Prix

The Moto3 World Championship remains in Austria this weekend for the second round of the second double-header of the compressed 2020 season. 

Albert Arenas was victorious last weekend in the Red Bull Ring. The championship leader keeps finding himself in the right place in the closing stages of the race, even in spite of his injured right leg. After so many times, it is sure that this is not down only to luck – as we saw with recent champions in the lightweight class such as Lorenzo Dalla Porta, Joan Mir or Jorge Martin, they always seem to have a fairly quiet race, spending most of the race inside the top five positions and always able to respond to the changing situation of the Moto3 pack. Arenas appears to be exhibiting those on a consistent basis, and so the pressure is on his rivals to respond. 

Those rivals include Ai Ogura, who was the only rider to have as many podium finishes as Arenas in 2020 before last weekend’s race. Ogura was fourth last weekend, which is not a disaster for the Japanese rider, but it did cost him second place in the championship to John McPhee. The #79 is still without a win in the Moto3 World Championship, but as he now lies 30 points behind Arenas, the time in which achieving that will be important in the fight against both the Spaniard and McPhee for the world title is growing smaller. 

McPhee’s ride in Austria was surprising. He finished third – his third podium of the season to equal Ogura – but in a race which normally would not suit his more calculated style. It is true that the Moto3 race last weekend was manic, and McPhee’s ability to adapt to that, and recover from mistakes, or being pushed wide by other riders, was impressive. He is 28 points behind Arenas, so a win this weekend would bring him back to within a race win’s worth of points of the Spaniard.

Last weekend, the Moto3 race saw an even split of KTM and Honda riders in the top 10, although there were also three Honda riders in the top four, with Jaume Masia finishing second to join McPhee and Ogura inside that top four. Celestino Vietti was the second KTM rider in fifth place, although his speed late in the race was impressive. A better qualifying and first part of the race could put the Italian in the frame for the podium, which he missed last week for having to recover too much in the final lap. 

Darryn Binder finished sixth one week ago to make it three KTMs in the top six, although once again he had to do it from a poor qualifying. After the Andalusian Grand Prix Binder commented that although he is able to consistently fight from the back to the front in the Moto3 race within a few laps of the start, doing so consumes too much of his rear tyre. Rear grip is essential in Austria, not only for the many acceleration points but also to have the support to be able to stop the bike and be fast on corner entry. So, look out for Binder regardless, but especially if he qualifies in the first three or four rows, and doesn’t have to use too much tyre to arrive at the front in the race.

The Austrian Grand Prix was also a breakthrough ride for Deniz Oncu, who scored a career-best finish of eighth place, and fought for much of the race inside the top six. It will have been a good lesson for the Turkish rookie to spend so much time fighting with the likes of Arenas, McPhee and Binder, and a lesson that he will aim to put into practice this weekend.