Sachsenring, Germany, June 19th 2023 - Both Tony Arbolino and Dani Holgado consolidated their positions at the top of the Moto2 and Moto3 championship standings with podium finishes in Germany.
Augusto Fernandez was in confident mood on the grid of the German Grand Prix after his best ever Sprint result of 14th on Saturday afternoon. Unfortunately, the GASGAS Tech 3 rider didn't get off to the best of starts when the lights went out. After losing three positions in the first few corners, Fernandez began to find his rhythm. Setting his best times after the halfway point, the Spaniard overtook Morbidelli and Quartararo before getting past Espargaro to cross the line in 11th position. “I wouldn't say I'm disappointed, of course, but I was hoping for a bit more because we had the pace to do better," said the Elf rider. “I felt great on the bike, and I had no trouble overtaking. However, I got off to a bad start, lost places and paid the price.”
After retiring on Saturday afternoon, Jonas Folger finished 17th at his home Grand Prix.
Second on the grid and second at the finish of the German Grand Prix, Tony Arbolino held firm at the Sachsenring circuit. Chased by Jake Dixon right up to the last lap, the Elf Marc VDS Racing rider defended his position perfectly to maintain his advantage over Pedro Acosta at the top of the overall standings. “It was a very tough race," admitted the Italian. “I wasn’t feeling that confident but I pushed 110% to make sure of second place. Now we need to work on understanding what went wrong this weekend and what we need to improve.” Sam Lowes was unlucky in Italy, but this time he was able to finish the race and take the chequered flag in seventh place.
“The unpredictable weather didn't allow us to work as well as I would have liked," regretted the Briton. “We lacked pace. This circuit isn't the best for me, and I would certainly have been happy to finish seventh if I'd been able to get a better result in Italy."
Dani Holgado was once again on the podium at the German Grand Prix. This time, the KTM Tech 3 rider took third place. “This weekend was a bit more difficult than the previous ones," he explained. “I didn't have the best pace and I lacked something compared to Öncü and Sasaki. I fought hard for third place and the result is important for the championship.” With this latest podium, Holgado consolidates his position as leader. Filippo Farioli, who struggled in practice and was forced to take two long penalty laps in the race, was only able to finish in 21st position.
Xavier Artigas returned to the points with an 11th place, while Joël Kelso only managed to finish 22nd.
On the back of their best qualifying performances of the season, the two Tech3 E-Racing riders put in two solid races at Sachsenring. In the first race, Alessandro Zaccone battled to fourth place, 1.3 seconds behind the winner - his best result of the year - while Hikari Okubo finished in the top ten. Rain arrived shortly after the start of the second race, prompting the race directors to shorten proceedings, depriving the Tech3 riders of the chance to show what they were capable of.
They nevertheless finished ninth and eighth, taking valuable points.
| CATEGORY | RIDER | RACE | CHAMPIONSHIP |
|---|---|---|---|
| MOTOGP |
Pol Espargaro |
DNS |
|
|
Augusto Fernandez |
14th and 11th |
14th (36 points) |
|
|
Jonas Folger |
DNF and 17th |
21st (7 points) |
|
| MOTO2 |
Sam Lowes |
7th |
8th (53 points) |
|
Tony Arbolino |
2nd |
1st (139 points) |
|
| MOTO3 |
Dani Holgado |
3rd |
1st (125 points) |
|
Filippo Farioli |
21st |
26th (2 points) |
|
|
Xavier Artigas |
11th |
8th (55 points) |
|
|
Joel Kelso |
22nd |
19th (12 points) |
|
| MOTOE |
Alessandro Zaccone |
4th and 9th |
8th (47 points) |
|
Hikari Okubo |
10th and 8th |
12th (36 points) |
