Moto3: Fenati Takes Historic 13th Win in Emilia Romagna

Round eight of the 2020 Moto3 World Championship took place in Misano for the Grand Prix of Emilia Romagna. Raul Fernandez started from his third pole position of the season.

Tony Arbolino made the holeshot, although an early move from Raul Fernandez gave the Spaniard the early lead.

It was not until lap four that Fernandez was relieved of the lead, when Albert Arenas moved through. But things were tight, the lead group stretching back to Ayumu Sasaki in 17th as they began the fifth lap.

Celestino Vietti took the lead on lap seven, and began to stretch the pack, reducing the front group to 11 by lap 10, although John McPhee was closing the gap down to the leaders in 12th. By the time McPhee arrived on the back of the front group, he was 11th, after a crash for Dennis Foggia, albeit with some help from Jeremy Alcoba.

Things stayed relatively constant until lap 17. Of course, there was the usual Moto3 fighting, riders swapping back-and-forth such that in the end it all evens out, but out front Vietti had remained strong. It was his braking performance that had preserved his lead, at least until Jaume Masia passed him on that aforementioned lap 17. It was nearly a complete disaster for the Italian, who was hit by Gabriel Rodrigo into turn eight as Masia went through. Fortunately neither Vietti nor Rodrigo went down, although the Argentine came off much worse, slipping back to the lower reaches of the top 10, whilst Vietti was able to retake the lead at turn 13 on the same lap. 

Vietti then took another stint at the front that saw him leading onto the final lap from Albert Arenas, who at this point was fortunate to be in the race having nearly been collected by a flying Darryn Binder who crashed on the entry to turn one, a nasty high side for the #40 that ended his podium chances. 

Arenas knew Vietti’s strength, he had been out-braked by Vietti countless times throughout the second half of the race, and so when he went through on the back straight towards turn eight the Spaniard cut Vietti off on the outside. However, the #13 still responded, and did so around the outside anyway, braking on the kerb to reclaim the lead before turn nine.

It was here at turn nine that had proven Arenas’ strong point throughout the race, and so it proved once again on the final lap. The #75 had not shown this move to Vietti yet in the race and that proved important on the final tour, as Arenas moved up the inside of Vietti to take the lead. It was a lovely move from the championship leader, and Vietti’s attempts to square him off were denied, which allowed Masia back into the picture. 

Of course, Arenas had passed at turns nine and 10, which lead onto the back straight, meaning he had no slipstream on the run to the flat-out turn 11. Vietti, of course, did have the tow, but so did Masia behind. 

The #13 Sky VR46 rider had been especially strong in the braking for turn 13 through the race, and was clearly setting himself up to be on the inside at turn 12, but Masia had other plans, moving to the inside of the Italian through turn 11. 

Vietti hung on, though, and crept through on the inside of Arens who was forced wide on the entry for turn 12, and that allowed Romano Fenati and Ai Ogura to pass him, shuffling the #75 back to fifth. 

Back at the front, though, and Vietti now had one chance to pass Masia for the win, and it came at turn 14, the last real overtaking opportunity on the track. Masia anticipated the move, and came across to cover the line, but it was too late and Vietti was already on the inside. The two made contact and ran wide, Masia dropping to fifth whilst Vietti slotted back in in second place, just in front of Ogura and behind Fenati, who carried good speed through turn 15 to mean Vietti was not close enough in turn 16 to make a pass, meaning Fenati took his first win since Austria last year. 

It was a remarkable race by Fenati, who was strong at the start but dropped back in the middle of the race. The Italian was up to his usual tricks of passing people around the outside, using big wide arcs to carry good speed through the middle of corners. Normally, these lines leave him open to attack, but today the Max Racing Team Husqvarna rider was able to defend himself and position himself well to attack on the last lap. It was Fenati’s first win on home soil since Misano 2017, and his 13th in Moto3, making him the most successful rider in the class since its introduction in 2012. 

Vietti’s second place was hard-fought, although he will no doubt be frustrated to have missed out on the win having led for so long. For his championship, though, the 20 points are important after his DNF last week, and he is now 33 points behind Arenas in the World Championship. 

The podium was rounded out by Ai Ogura who, as seems to be the norm now, came almost from nowhere to be in position to fight for the podium on the last lap. He was aggressive, but fair, with Arenas and benefitted from Vietti running Masia wide, and the 13 points move him three points closer to the championship lead, of which he is now two adrift.

Albert Arenas ended the race in fourth having led out of turn 10, a strange circumstance only really possible in Moto3. However, the race could have gone much differently for Arenas, had the trajectory of Binder’s bike been slightly different when he crashed in turn one. Ultimately, the #75 is still at the head of the championship going into Barcelona next week. 

The top five was rounded out by Jaume Masia who held on to fifth after his incident with Vietti on the last lap. 

Behind the Spaniard was his compatriot Raul Fernandez who missed some aggression in the fight but was able to fight for the podium until the end of the race for the first time in his World Championship career, finishing ahead of Deniz Oncu after another strong late-race performance from the Turkish rider. Andrea Migno was eighth, having lost out a bit in the first half of the race from third on the grid. Kaito Toba was ninth in one of his best showings on the KTM, ahead of John McPhee who completed the top 10 following some contact in the closing laps which ended his podium charge. 

Jeremy Alcoba will have some explaining to do after an unprovoked swipe at Darryn Binder on the back straight mid-race. That is under review by the FIM MotoGP Stewards at the time of writing, but it was on the limit, at the very least, from the #52. Behind the Spaniard was Tony Arbolino who was at the front in the early stages but dropped back significantly after losing out to Celestino Vietti at turn eight in the first part of the race. The #14 ende dup just in front of Gabriel Rodrigo, who never really recovered after his contact with Vietti in turn eight on lap 17 and finished 13th, ahead of Ayumu Sasaki and Stefano Nepa who completed the top 15. 

Filip Salac just missed out on points in 16th, finishing ahead of Sergio Garcia, Niccolo Antonelli, Carlos Tatay and Ryusei Yamanaka who rounded out the top 20. Behind, Riccardo Rossi was 21st, ahead of Barry Baltus, Jason Dupasquier, Khairul Idham Pawi, Yuki Kunii, Davide Pizzoli and Maximilian Kofler who was last of the 27 classified finishers.

There were only three retirements, a rarity for a Moto3 race. Alonso Lopez was the first to go down, the #21 crashing in the long lap penalty lane where he was sent after a jump start. The other two to go down were the aforementioned Foggia and Binder.