Colin Veijer fended off team-mate Ayumu Sasaki to secure victory in the Malaysian Moto3 encounter at the Sepang International Circuit, while several title hopefuls crashed out.   

Veijer showed impressive performance throughout the 15-lap event as he continuously disputed the lead with series leader Jaume Masia, Sasaki as well as KTM Ajo’s Deniz Oncu.

The Husqvarna rider kept his powder dry and remained in the leading group of just six as the final third of the attritional race got underway, a group which was reduced to three with two laps remaining after Jose Antonio Rueda outbraked himself and took out Oncu at the final bend.

Veijer led the way at the start of the final tour ahead of Sasaki and Masia, though team-mate Sasaki tried to snatch away the lead at Turn 4. Veijer snapped back perfectly though and swept back around the outside of the Japanese pilot at Turn 5.

Sasaki regrouped and elected to follow Veijer around the rest of the lap for a final corner attack, all the time defending from Masia. Having got close enough for an attack, Sasaki once again was forced to settle for second as Veijer braked impossibly late to hold the line through the bend.

Achieving a good exit, he flew across the line to secure his maiden Moto3 race victory by just 0.066s ahead of Sasaki and Masia, whose series lead was eroded to 13 points with two rounds remaining.

The fight for the championship now looks to be a two-horse race as Oncu’s late incident – from which he rejoined en route to 12th at the chequered flag – means he is now 51 points off Masia with 50 left on the table. The chances of Daniel Holgado and David Alonso securing maiden successes were also reduced after they crashed early on.

Alonso was pushing to make up ground from 21^st on the grid after crashing in qualifying, only to go down again after high siding at Turn 4. Several riders piled into the side of his stricken bike, including Holgado, MT Helmets – Msi’s Diogo Moreira, Ricardo Rossi, and Thai rostrum finisher Taiyo Furusato.

Alonso and Holgado now sit a distant 41 markers off the series lead with two races to run, leaving them with a lot of work to do to get back into the title picture.

Meanwhile, Ivan Ortola survived the chaos to bring his MTA Angeluss machine home in fourth ahead of BOE’s David Munoz, with Adrian Fernandez completing the top six for Leopard Racing.

Xavier Artigas ended up seventh ahead of CFMoto team-mate Joel Kelso. At the same time, Filippo Fairoli and Ryusei Yamanaka moved into the top ten late on ahead of Matteo Bertelle, who was pushed out of the lead battle having to avoid the stricken Oncu at the final corner.

David Alonso flew to a fourth Moto3 victory of 2023 in Thailand to fire himself back into title contention, while Ayumu Sasaki’s hopes took a hit with an early crash.

Alonso got a good start from 12^th on the grid to establish himself as an integral part of the lead pack in the early laps of the contest, though for the bulk of the race decided to save his rubber and sit in and around the top five.

This left series leader Jaume Masia and Husqvarna’s Colin Veijer to dice for the leadership, though Honda Team Asia’s Taiyo Furusato began to mix it with the lead duo as the race progressed past half-distance.

Alonso then began to threaten more as he started to scrap with the leaders, though as the encounter approached its conclusion it was Veijer who had established himself in the lead.

The Dutch rider led the way onto the final lap and down the two long straights that opened the lap, though Alonso picked his moment and scythed through to the lead on entry to Turn 3.

The GasGas pilot strung together a commanding rest of the lap to build up a small lead as Furusato and Masia tussled for the runners-up spot.

Alonso’s small gap was ultimately enough to leave him clear of a final corner attack, allowing him to take the chequered flag 0.266s clear for a fourth win of the season and close to within 25 points of the championship lead.

Furusato managed to come out on the battle for the runners-up spot to secure his first-ever Moto3 rostrum result. At the same time, Veijer also slipped past Masia for the final spot on the podium after the Leopard man put on a failed attack to try and steal second at the final bend.

Masia’s fourth-place result means he extends his points advantage to 17 over Sasaki after the Japanese ace crashed after running into the back of David Munoz early on after the BOE Motorsports rider seemingly ran into technical problems with his machine.

Stefano Nepa managed to miss the slowing Munoz having been right behind, but Sasaki was unsighted and plowed into the rear of the Spaniard – forcing him out of the race as a result.

Pole-man Deniz Oncu meanwhile completed the top five after being unable to place his Ajo KTM in the right places across the last lap, while Daniel Holgado staged an impressive fightback from the back of the field to sixth having been part of the Munoz/Sasaki clash.

The Tech 3 pilot was forced to run wide to miss the collision, though he posted fastest lap after fastest lap as he cut back through the pack to keep his title hopes alive heading into the final three races of the season.

Matteo Bertelle enjoyed a strong outing for Snipers to record his best result of the year in seventh ahead of Sic58’s Ricardo Rossi and GasGas’ Ryusei Yamanaka, while Kaito Toba rounded off the top ten.

Deniz Oncu snatched away victory from Ayumu Sasaki to secure victory in a soaking Australian Moto3 encounter, while series leader Jaume Masia could only manage eighth.

Oncu displayed strong speed throughout the entirety of the 21-lap race, which got underway in heavy wet conditions that also provided limited vision for the riders.

The Turk was part of a lead group made up of pole man Sasaki and Husqvarna team-mate Colin Veijer, CFMoto’s Joel Kelso and Leopard Racing’s Adrian Fernandez. It would be Fernandez who made the lead his own as the race progressed, the Spaniard enjoying a lead of just over a second as the race moved past half-distance.

Disaster would follow just half-a-dozen tours from home though as Fernandez dropped his Honda after running slightly wide at Turn 11, leaving Sasaki to take the lead ahead of Oncu and Kelso.

Oncu had managed to recover from a couple of nasty moments himself to close onto the rear of Sasaki as the duo began the final lap, the KTM Ajo pilot backing out of a move at Turn 1. He continued to stalk the Japanese rider across the remainder of the lap before finally diving down the inside at Turn 10.

He managed to get his machine stopped to secure the spot, Oncu taking the chequered flag 0.407s clear of Sasaki to record his third victory of the term.

Sasaki thus had to make do with a sixth runners-up finish of the season though, as title rival Masia could only secure eighth, he narrowed his points deficit to just four heading into next weekend’s Thai Grand Prix.

Kelso meanwhile secured his maiden Moto3 rostrum result at his home event after electing to back off in the closing couple of laps after suffering a couple of moments in the tricky conditions.

Veijer claimed a distant fourth ahead of Fernandez, who managed to quickly remount and salvage a top-five result.

Sic58’s Ricardo Rossi ended up sixth ahead of Taiyo Furusato and Masia, while Snipers’ Matteo Bertelle and CIP’s Lorenzo Fellon completed the top ten.

Daniel Holgado lost further ground in the championship battle having only secured 13^th, the Tech 3 man’s cause not helped by a crash on the sighting lap. Diogo Moreira also suffered the same fate, the Brazilian retiring not long into the race as his bike was unable to be sufficiently repaired.

Several riders lost out on top ten finishes due to falling foul of the conditions. Erstwhile title contender David Alonso fell victim to Turn 4 early on as did Ivan Ortola, while Mario Aji went down from sixth after losing the front at Turn 11 just past mid-way.

David Salvador crashed from the top ten after high-siding dramatically at Turn 8, while David Munoz also went down in a similar vein to Fernandez and Aji at Turn 11.  

Diogo Moreira held off David Alonso to secure an emphatic maiden Moto3 victory in a breathless Indonesian Grand Prix encounter that saw Jaume Masia extend his series lead.

Pole-man Moreira led early on having made a good start and fought within the lead pack across the entirety of the 20-lap contest, though his job was made harder as the race entered its closing stanza due to a mistake at Turn 9.

The MT Helmets-MSI rider was forced to run through the run-off area and dropped to seventh as a result, forcing him to recover ground in the closing laps.

A bold move by Daniel Holgado on title rival Masia helped keep Moreira in the fight though as they both ran wide and dropped outside the top five, Moreira putting himself in position to lead onto the start of the final tour.

He came under attack from Holgado and lost the lead in the early part of the lap but managed to sneak back through with just a handful of bends remaining.

The Brazilian rode a perfect defensive line as Alonso looked every which way to find a way past, leaving him to take the chequered flag first for the first time in his Moto3 career by just 0.107s.

David Munoz navigated the final circulation well to secure the final spot on the rostrum, while Colin Veijer ended up as the only Husqvarna in the points as championship contender Ayumu Sasaki endured a tough Sunday in Indonesia.

The Japanese ace crashed on the way to the grid and sustained damage to his Honda and his leathers, Sasaki taking the start with the spare gloves of Moto2 rider Jake Dixon due to not having bedded in his own set of spares.

He struggled to make much ground having dropped to 24^th on the opening tour with a slow start, Sasaki coming home a distant 19^th in the end and thus breaking an unbroken points run that goes back to the United States GP back in April.

Meanwhile, Jose Antonio Rueda rose to fifth due to a clever final lap, while Masia was battered down to a sixth-place finish in the end.

The Leopard rider still extended his points advantage out to 16 over Sasaki, with Holgado a further point adrift after being dropped to 14^th in the final classification due to receiving his second long lap of the race for cutting Turn 9.

Taiyo Furasato ran well to claim seventh for Honda Team Asia, while Deniz Oncu had a quiet race en route to eighth.

Ivan Ortola managed to overcome a double long-lap punishment for a jump start to salvage ninth in the final reckoning. At the same time, Angeluss MTA team-mate Stefano Nepa completed the top ten having served a long lap of his own in the early stages.  

Jaume Masia eases to a commanding win in the Moto3 Indian Grand Prix, the Spaniard leading every lap to become the first grand prix rider to win in the country.

The Leopard Racing pilot made a good start from pole position to establish himself out in front from the outset, Masia swiftly aiming to break up the pack as he unleashed his pace.

Title rival Ayumu Sasaki was the only man able to keep up with his blistering pace as the pair broke comfortably away from their pursuers, their gap standing at around 2.5 second by the time Sasaki’s Husqvarna team-mate Colin Veijer broke through to third and stemmed the flow around mid-distance.

Sasaki began to labor though as the final third of the contest came around, Masia maintaining his speed as the Japanese rider seemingly began to struggle with his tyres.

Masia extended his advantage rapidly as Sasaki fell away, leaving to eventually take the chequered flag 5.5 seconds clear of the intense battle for the runners-up spot that developed across the closing stages.

Such was the extent of Sasaki’s slump, Veijer managed to bridge the 2.5-second gap to his team leader, the Dutchman also bringing Sic58 rider Kaito Toba along.

The trio tussled over the final couple of laps and traded places almost every corner before disaster struck on the final tour, Sasaki attempting to dive through on Veijer at Turn 13 before running wide.

This pushed him on into the side of Veijer, causing him to crash out and retire on the spot, the carnage leaving Toba to come through and secure his first rostrum result of the year while Sasaki clung onto the final podium spot.

Daniel Holgado, who held the points lead heading into the weekend, failed to match the speed of the leaders but still completed a decent damage limitation mission to claim fourth ahead of GasGas’ David Alonso.

David Munoz was sixth for BOE Motorsports ahead of the sister Sic58 entry of Ricardo Rossi, with MTA Angeluss pair Ivan Ortola and Stefano Nepa shadowing each other home in eighth and ninth respectively.

Jose Antonio Rueda rounded off the top ten on his Ajo-run KTM, his team-mate Deniz Oncu only rebounding to 14^th in the end after starting from the rear of the field with a long-lap penalty after ignoring a black flag during qualifying.

Diogo Moreria looked to be in with a shout of the podium battle in the early goings but eventually fell back to 13^th for the MT Helmets – MSI outfit.

Matteo Bertelle also looked to possess strong speed but dropped his Snipers-run bike from third at Turn 1 early on, while Taiyo Furusato saw a promising top-ten run end with a crash at Turn 4 around half-distance while running tenth.

Holgado will head into next weekend’s Japanese GP a joint series leader with Holgado, the duo just a solitary point clear of Sasaki.

David Alonso snatched a third Moto3 win of 2023 away from Jaume Masia and Deniz Oncu on the final lap of a breathless San Marino lightweight class grand prix.

The Colombian focussed on saving his rubber across the entirety of the 20-lap contest as the likes of Leopard Racing’s Masia and Ajo’s Oncu did their best to string out the pack, the former nearly escaping the entire field in the early laps before the latter towed the rest of the pack onto the Spaniard.

From then on it was about clicking off the laps, though the leading duo’s pace advantage once again came to the fore as the race reached three-quarters distance, Oncu putting the hammer down under pressure from Masia, an event that broke the field up and allowed the leading quartet – also including Alonso and BOE Motorsports’ David Munoz – to sprint clear.

Oncu led the way at the start of the final tour as Alonso battled to find a way through on Masia, something he achieved at Turn 10, before an opportunity was gifted to him as Oncu ran wide at Turn 13 – though the GasGas man followed suit and allowed Masia a free run down the inside.

Masia very nearly lost the front though as he braked impossibly late, allowing Alonso to switch back on the exit of the hairpin and re-take a leadership he would never relinquish, leaving him to secure supremacy by just 0.036s ahead of Masia, with Oncu completing the rostrum just moments behind.

Series leader Daniel Holgado meanwhile suffered a second straight non-points scoring outing after struggling for speed throughout the encounter, the Tech 3 rider eventually taking the chequered flag 16^th after falling outside the top 15 late on – his freefall meaning his points lead has been slashed to just four over Husqvarna’s Ayumu Sasaki, with Masia and Oncu closing to 12 and 17 markers adrift respectively.

Munoz fell off the back of the leading trio in the final couple of tours after nearly losing the front of his bike to take fourth ahead of Colin Veijer, the sister Husqvarna entrant pulling well clear of the battle for sixth but doing so too late to do anything about the leaders.

Kaito Toba ultimately came out victorious in the tussle for sixth for the Sic58 squad ahead of Sasaki, while Ivan Ortola recovered from an early wide moment at the hairpin to secure eighth ahead of Jose Antonio Rueda.

Snipers racer Romano Fenati completed the top ten having rallied back through in the closing stages, while Diogo Moreira fell all the way to 12^th in the final reckoning having challenged strongly within the leading group in the opening half of the contest.   

David Alonso snatched away victory on the final lap of a breathless Catalan Moto3 encounter to secure his second win of 2023, while points leader Daniel Holgado crashed out.

Alonso proved to be one of the main protagonists towards the front of the leading pack throughout the 18-lap encounter, the GasGas rider warring with the likes of Holgado, Deniz Oncu, Jaume Masia and Ayumu Sasaki.

He managed to play himself into the perfect position at the start of the final lap behind leader Holgado to make a move, though Leopard Racing’s Masia had other ideas and moved clear of him to have a crack at the series leader – Masia moving into the leadership at Turn 6 with Alonso swiftly following through.

Alonso got himself within range for another attack at Turn 10 and managed to scythe through into the lead, though BOE Motorsports’ David Munoz had something to say and moved past both to hold the advantage heading through the final couple of corners.

Keen to add to his maiden victory scored at Silverstone, Alonso dived to the inside of Munoz at the final bend – Masia all the while doing exactly the same to Alonso.

Masia was pinched severely to the inside however and couldn’t get the move done, allowing Alonso to fly across the line to secure his second career victory by just 0.076s over Masia.

Deniz Oncu originally came across the line third having clattered into the side of Munoz on the exit of the last turn – causing the Spaniard to go down into the gravel as a result – which ultimately caused Oncu to be granted a six-second penalty for his part in the incident, dropping him to 12^th in the final classification.

This was great news for KTM Ajo team-mate Jose Antonio Rueda who inherited the final rostrum position ahead of Husqvarna’s Sasaki and Angeluss MTA’s Stefano Nepa.

Holgado meanwhile suffered a disaster on the very final tour after going down at Turn 10 due to losing the rear end of his Tech 3-run KTM mid-corner, the championship leader thus taking the chequered flag a lowly 22^nd and thus scoring no points.

Ricardo Rossi meanwhile claimed sixth for the Sic58 squad ahead of CIP’s Kaito Toba, with the sister Leopared entry of Tatsuki Suzuki was eighth.

Ryusei Yamanaka ended up ninth on the other GasGas machine, the Japanese rider narrowly heading pole-man Ivan Ortola who struggled to remain up front in the final couple tours.

Holgado’s non-score and Oncu’s penalty means Sasaki – who actually struggled to maintain a top ten run throughout the day – ended up making up significant ground in the championship fight, the six-time 2023 rostrum finisher halving his deficit to Holgado to sit only 13 markers adrift heading to Misano next weekend.

Deniz Oncu grabbed his second Moto3 win of 2023 with a last-gasp move on series leader Daniel Holgado and Ayumu Sasaki at the Red Bull Ring.

The Turkish rider was a continual factor in the leading group across the entirety of the 20-lap contest, Oncu working with Holgado and Sasaki as well as pole-man Collin Veijer and GasGas’ David Alonso to pull well clear of the chasing pack.

Holgado led the majority of the laps as he sustained a strong pace out in front, though Sasaki made his move at the start of the very final lap as he tried to finally secure his first win of the season.

The championship leader was keen to keep his Tech 3-run KTM at the head of the pack though and dived back through at Turn 3, Oncu then getting a run on his fellow KTM ace on the run to Turn 4 – before Sasaki surprised the pair by scything back past into the lead into the bend.

The Japanese rider rode defensively as he desperately tried to hold off his determined adversaries until the very final corner, where Holgado attempted to dive through at the very last moment – the Spaniard’s bold move ultimately pushing both wide and allowing Oncu to slide by and rip away victory by just 0.005s over Holgado.

Sasaki meanwhile was forced to try and fend off rookie Husqvarna team-mate Veijer for the final spot on the rostrum, a task he just about achieved by a narrow margin of 0.017s – Sasaki securing his sixth-successive podium finish.

Ivan Ortola did his best to try and catch the lead quartet having dropped the large second group across the second half of the encounter, though the Angeluss MTA rider eventually had to settle for a distant fifth ahead of Ricardo Rossi, while Ryusei Yamanaka battled through the next pack to claim seventh on his GasGas entry.

Diogo Moreira ended up eighth on his MT Helmets – MSI-run KTM just clear of David Munoz, while Stefano Nepa held off Jose Antonio Rueda to complete the top ten on the sister Angeluss machine.

It was a tough day for Leopard Racing after title contender Jaume Masia went out early with an issue with his throttle, while team-mate Tatsuki Suzuki struggled for speed and could manage only 13^th ahead of Kaito Toba and VisionTrack Honda’s Scott Ogden.  

Alonso’s promising day also came to a swift end after the Columbian dropped his bike at Turn 2 having just moved into the leadership past half-distance.

Holgado now possesses more than a race wins worth of a points advantage heading into the Catalan event next time out, with Sasaki now 26 markers adrift – while Oncu now sits third overall courtesy of his success a further seven behind.

David Alonso secured a stunning Silverstone Moto3 victory having started from 28^th and almost last on the grid, while Jaume Masia crashed out.

The GasGas rider unleashed his full aggression right from the start of the encounter as he attempted to make as much progress as possible after having started from the back of the field, Alonso rising into the rostrum positions just three-laps into the contest.

From there he remained a constant part of the top five alongside series leader Daniel Holgado, Ayumu Sasaki as well as pole-man Masia.

Masia’s day was effectively ended though after the Leopard Racing rider dropped his Honda at Turn 4 while leading, gifting the leadership to Husqvarna’s Sasaki.

It was Holgado though that held sway at the front as the final tour began, though Alonso soon swept through past the Tech 3 racer at Luffield – with Sasaki then taking his turn to lead by diving through on entry to the fast Maggotts-Beckett’s esses.

The Japanese ace’s formidable straight line performance was not enough to save him from a determined Alonso though as he slipped through to re-gain the initiative at Stowe, the Colombian then doing enough to hold on and secure his first ever Moto3 success in emphatic style.

Sasaki once again had to settle for second – his third-runner-up spot in the past four races – just 0.152s behind Alonso, while Holgado did his series lead no harm at all after completing the rostrum positions.

Ivan Ortola grabbed fourth for the MTA Angeluss squad, while David Munoz staged an impressive comeback of his own to complete the top five from 27^th on the grid.

Diogo Moreira ended up sixth for the MT Helmets – MSI operation, with David Salvador and Jose Antonio Rueda claiming seventh and eighth.

Colin Veijer survived a late scare in Beckett’s that saw him drop out of the top 15 to recover to ninth, while Romano Fenati brushed off a hairy moment at Copse to complete the top ten.   

Deniz Oncu remained a part of the leading group for the bulk of the race but was eventually shuffled back to 11^th, while Scott Ogden saw a strong qualifying run – where he managed second on the grid – go to waste after he stalled on the formation lap, the VisionTrack Honda ace missing out on points despite coming back through to 16^th.

Masia managed to re-mount his machine to eventually take 18^th, while a crash for Leopard team-mate Tatsuki Suzuki in the latter stages with Matteo Bertelle ultimately completed a dismal British outing for the outfit.  

Holgado now holds a 22-point series lead of Sasaki, with Masia’s crash seeing him now fall to 32 adrift of the Spaniard ahead of next weekend’s Austrian GP.

Jaume Masia batted away the advances of Ayumu Sasaki to secure victory in a breathless Moto3 encounter at Assen , as series lead Daniel Holgado crashed on the opening tour.

Masia was part of a leading gaggle of ten riders that managed to break away from the rest of the field approaching half-distance, the Leopard Racing ace swapping the lead with the likes of Sasaki, Deniz Oncu, Romano Fenati and David Munoz amongst others around the fast and flowing Assen venue.

The Spaniard managed to place himself well though and led the way across the final couple of laps as chaos ensued behind him, though a determined Sasaki – who was keen to make up for losing victory last weekend at the Sachsenring at the final bend – battled his way past Oncu at Turn 5 on the last lap to chase down leader Masia.

The Husqvarna pilot closed him down across the final lap and got himself well within range as the leaders approached the rapid Turns 14, 15 and 16 that signified the end of the tour – Sasaki firing through on Masia with a bold move at 16.

Masia wasn’t done with yet though and positioned himself nicely to fire back down the inside of Sasaki on entry to the final chicane, a move he pulled off to perfection as he enjoyed a good exit to the complex to take the chequered flag just 0.081s clear of Sasaki – who lost supremacy at the death for the second time in an many races.

Oncu managed to get come out on top in the fight for best of the rest to complete the rostrum in third ahead of Ivan Ortola, who did well to get back to fourth after dropping to seventh at the start of the last circulation after running wide at Turn 1 – the MTA Angeluss rider having also taken a long-lap penalty in the early laps.

Pole-man David Munoz rounded off the top five for the BOE team ahead of Jose Antonio Rueda and Colin Veijer, while Fenati dropped to eighth in the final reckoning having been third and looking for the leadership with only a handful of bends remaining.

Joel Kelso fell to ninth having led the race at times early on, while Stefano Nepa ran wide on the final lap and fell to tenth as the final man in the leading group.

Holgado’s weekend meanwhile went from bad to worse having qualified last of the 27-rider field, the series leader crashing at Turn 10 on the opening lap as he tried to make swift progress through the pack – his incident leaving him pointless after re-mounting.

This means his series lead has been slashed to just 16 over the victorious Masia, while Sasaki’s fourth-consecutive podium finish sees him close to within 26 markers of Holgado heading into the summer break.