Izan Guevara strengthened his hold on the 2022 Moto3 world championship with a dominant display in the Aragon Grand Prix, while title rivals Sergio Garcia and Dennis Foggia struggled.
Guevara made a rapid start from pole to hold the leadership into Turn 1 ahead of Ayumu Sasaki and Daniel Holgado, the GasGas rider immediately looking to pull the pin and stretch the field out.
His plan worked as he swiftly created a three-man breakaway across the opening laps, the Spaniard having crafted a 2.3 second gap back to fourth-placed John McPhee in only five laps.
The gap would continue to grow as the race progressed, Sasaki and Holgado using the tow from the imperious Guevara to confirm rostrum placings.
Holgado eventually began to fall well away from the leading duo as the race entered its climactic stages, leaving MAX Racing’s Sasaki to try and swipe away supremacy at the death.
The Japanese rider simply lacked the raw speed to get on terms with Guevara though and lost a crucial few tenths-of-a-second across the final couple of tours, allowing Guevara to cruise home to collect a fourth win of 2022.
Sasaki took the chequered flag 0.957s later to take second, while Holgado crossed the line nearly seven seconds down on Guevara to complete the podium.
Guevara’s title rivals Garcia and Foggia faltered meanwhile, the pair both lacking speed to even battle for a top ten finish throughout, Guevara’s GasGas team-mate Garcia eventually coming home a distant 13th just ahead of Leopard Racing’s Foggia in 14th – both dropping nearly 20 seconds away from Guevara by the end.
The duo’s tough outing means that Guevara’s series lead has swelled to a commanding 33 points over Garcia with five races remaining, Foggia now 58 markers adrift.
Deniz Oncu meanwhile won the battle for fourth after managing to escape the big group for fifth in the closing tours, a tussle which was ultimately won by Adrian Fernandez, the Tech 3 pilot’s result impressive given he had been pushed off the track by David Munoz just a few laps prior to the end – dropping to 14th in the process.
Ivan Ortola narrowly missed out on securing a first top five of the year, though sixth was still a personal best result for the rookie.
Munoz recovered from a long-lap punishment for his move on Fernandez to take seventh for the Boe SKX squad, while Jaume Masia claimed eighth for Ajo Racing.
Carlos Tatay ended up ninth on his CFMoto entry, while McPhee faded in the latter stages to complete the top ten.
Another to fall back from a strong position was Tatsuki Suzuki, the Leopard man leading the group for fourth early on before being swallowed by the chasing pack in the final circulations en-route to 12th.
