Moto3: Pit lane to victory for rookie Acosta

The second round of the 2021 Moto3 World Championship took place at the Losail International Circuit, which hosted its second motorcycle grand prix in the space of a week. This time, Jaume Masia, who won last week’s race, started from pole position. 

Gabriel Rodrigo made the holeshot and led into turn one, but it was a short-lived stint at the front for the #2 as Darryn Binder took over at turn four and led the first lap. 

From there, an intensified version of the usual Moto3 pack racing ensued at the front, while those starting from pit lane tried to hunt them down. Of those pit lane starters, Pedro Acosta was the leader, bringing three others – Romano Fenati, Sergio Garcia and Stefano Nepa – along with him in his journey to the back of the front group. Even a huge front slide at turn 13 mid-way through the race could not stop the #37’s charge. 

When Acosta got to the front group, he was able to make his way through from outside the points into the top five, with one move in particular – passing one rider around the outside at turn two before slipping up the inside of another in turn three – standing out. 

Getting into the top five was crucial for Acosta, as it was those from sixth place backwards who got cut off and dumped out of victory contention on the penultimate lap. Along with Acosta, Jaume Masia, Darryn Binder, Gabriel Rodrigo and Andrea Migno were able to make an advantage on lap 17, and it was Acosta who, after starting from pit lane, was able to lead over the line. 

The #37 held the lead into turn one, while those behind fought. Darryn Binder was able to come out in second place, but already Acosta had opened up a lead of 0.3 seconds. Contact between Masia and Rodrigo in turn 10 ruled them out of not only victory, but also podium, contention, meaning only Binder could stop Acosta from winning. 

Last week, Binder found out how fast the Red Bull KTM Ajo bikes could be in the straight, as he was unable to pass either of them on the run to the line and he finished third. This week, his discovery was the same, and once again he finished the race with a view of Acosta’s rear tyre. 

Somehow, the Spanish rookie, in just his second World Championship race, had managed to come from the pit lane, and over 11 seconds adrift at the end of the first lap, to lead the race on the final one, and do so while managing both the front and rear tyres in such a way that he could pull away from Binder on the final lap. It was not only a stunning victory from Pedro Acosta, it was an all-time great ride from a 16-year-old who quite clearly could not comprehend the significance of what he had just achieved even by the time he got to parc ferme to be interviewed by Dorna’s Simon Crafar. Everyone who was able to watch that race was fortunate, because they were able to witness motorcycle racing history that will not be forgotten for as long as motorcycles continues to go in circles at high speed.

Those finishing behind Acosta almost seem irrelevant – supporting roles in his epic – but in fact they played just as crucial a role as him, since if their level was not as high as we know it to be, Acosta’s achievement would not be so grand. 

Darryn Binder will leave Qatar having finished directly behind Acosta in two of the two races run so far this season, as well as directly behind the rookie in the World Championship, in which they sit first and second. 

Completing the podium was Niccolo Antonelli, in what was a somewhat historic ride in the personal career of the Italian, as he took his first podium since his victory in Jerez in 2019. 

Just missing out on the podium was Antonelli’s compatriot, Andrea Migno. No doubt, the two will be discussing their battle in a few days when they are training together at the VR46 Motor Ranch, but for both their presence at the front represents an improvement over recent seasons. 

Kaito Toba rounded out the top five of the second race of the season, the Japanese rider also having taken a step forward from 2020 to 2021 as he continues to settle in at CIP Green Power.

Behind Toba was Izan Guevara, whose participation in the race was in doubt after a crash in Warm Up that resulted in the Spaniard being stretchered off the track. Sixth place for a rookie in his second Grand Prix would normally be the focus of a lot of attention, but circumstances conspire and attention drifts. This is reality, but equally so is that Guevara is a particular talent – his recent accomplishments are testament to that.

Ayumu Sasaki got his first points of the season on the board with seventh, ahead of his compatriot Ryusei Yamanaka, who is another rider to have taken a step forward between last season and this. Having taken his first points last week, he took his first top 10 in Doha with eighth, finishing ahead of Jaume Masia and Romano Fenati who completed the top 10. Again, pit lane to 10th would take some attention ordinarily.

Jason Dupasquier once again proved his progress in his second full time Moto3 campaign with 11th, finishing ahead of Gabriel Rodrigo, Tatsuki Suzuki, Maximilian Kofler and Yuki Kunii, who took his first World Championship point with 15th. 

Stefano Nepa went from the pit lane to 16th, ahead of Dennis Foggia, another to have come from pit lane; while Deniz Oncu finished 18th ahead of Riccardo Rossi – another from pit lane – and Lorenzo Fellon who completed the top 20. 

Only three riders were classified outside the top 20: Carlos Tatay who had a crash; Andi Izdihar; and Sergio Garcia, another crasher. 

Xavi Artigas was the first retirement of the race, as he was taken out by Carlos Tatay at turn six, the same place Artigas cleaned out John McPhee, Andrea Migno and Jeremy Alcoba last week. Unfortunately for McPhee and Alcoba, they were once again involved in an incident together, as Alcoba out-braked himself into turn one, make contact with Darryn Binder and the out-of-control Gresini Honda gave McPhee nowhere to go and a hit on the head. McPhee duly lost his temper and will probably have an appointment with Race Direction before he leaves the Middle East. 

Filip Salac was another retiree, going down thanks to some unfortunate contact with Ayumu Sasaki when Salac was trying to go around the outside of the Japanese rider in turn two. It was a racing incident, but that won’t be of any consolation to Salac who was on for his best ride in grand prix racing. 

The final retirement was Adrian Fernandez, who was also looking good to take his best result of the season before going down with another rider in turn six.