Points haul and wild racing in Germany with the Gaviota GASGAS Aspar Team

Sergio Garcia and Izan Guevara battle into the top ten as Moto3™ Grand Prix racing returns to the Sachsenring for the first time since 2019.

A rollercoaster ride around the undulating Sachsenring circuit in Germany marked the first of back-to-back Grand Prix weekends ahead of the MotoGP™ summer break. With 2nd (Garcia) and a 14th (Guevara) position in the championship so far, it’s all to play for; and the Gaviota GASGAS Aspar Team are doubly focused on making every Grand Prix on track count.

  • Sergio Garcia pushes into podium contention but is pushed down to 7th on the penultimate lap
  • Izan Guevara holds station during a gritty midfield race, finishing 10th and scoring 6 points.
  • The Gaviota GASGAS Aspar Team hold 2nd and 14th in the FIM Moto3™ Grand Prix Championship standings

The final two races before the summer break are a super important time for the Grand Prix paddock - every rider on the grid wants to end the first half of the season on a high note, as well as set themselves up for a strong start again once racing returns later in the calendar.

In the crucible of competition which is Moto3, this couldn’t be more true. Following in the wheel tracks of Sergio Garcia’s win at the Catalan Grand Prix - his second victory of the season so far - the 18-year-old Spanish rider is in second place in the championship, and is looking faster and faster with every weekend out on his GASGAS RC 250 GP bike.

A challenging qualifying session on Saturday saw Garcia line-up 14th on the start grid. However come Sunday, Garcia approached the challenging 27 lap German Grand Prix with renewed enthusiasm and pace. A solid start saw Garcia work his way up to the leaders by lap 12.

Sachsenring’s shorter lap length (3.6km) and twisting blind corner layout means slower overall lap times and less emphasis on the slipstream roulette which has dominated the weekends of the 2021 season so far.  However, the narrow Sachsenring curves also bring an already incredibly close Moto3 field into even tighter proximity.

Three laps from the end Garcia had used his blistering pace to full effect and pushed himself into podium contention. Unfortunately on the penultimate lap - at turn 12 - he was pushed down to 10th by Jeremy Alcoba, who was later handed a one-position penalty by the race stewards. Garcia used his remaining lap to recover to 7th and gather 9 points from what was a challenging GP.

Meanwhile Gaviota GASGAS Aspar teammate and former Junior Moto3 World Champion Izan Guevara battled his own adverse weekend in Germany. The 16-year-old rider used his time at the technical Sachsenring circuit to work through tire strategy and push his GASGAS RC 250 GP bike to the limit.

Qualifying in 12th position, Guevara held guard in the ever changing mid pack to finish a solid tenth position and gain a further six points towards his debut Moto3 Grand Prix championship campaign.

Next up the Gaviota GASGAS Aspar Team head to the TT Assen Circuit in the Netherlands on the 27th June.

#11 - Sergio Garcia: “It was a tricky weekend as we couldn’t quite get everything together to fight for the victory. I did the best I could but we had a few small issues that we couldn’t solve. It was a ‘learning’ race. I crept up as far as I could to be quite well positioned for the last laps but had some contact and that put me out of the running for the podium. We gained some ground today but didn’t get the result we wanted. That’s how the races go sometimes.”

#28 - Izan Guevara: “It was a very difficult race and I didn’t have the feeling with the rear tyre. It was sliding a bit and I was losing out in the first turns but could recover in the next sector. It was a race determined by the tyre because we worked with the Hard choice during practice and it didn’t turn out to be what we hoped today. Now we go to Assen and we’ll try to go through the same working process that helped a lot to understand things in Catalunya and also here. In Assen we’ll need to start strong and see what’s possible.”

Results - 2021 Moto3 FIM World Championship, Round 8:

1. Pedro Acosta (KTM) 27 laps; 2. Kaito Toba (KTM) +0.130, 3. Dennis Foggia (Honda) +0.259, 7. Sergio Garcia (GASGAS), +0.537, 10. Izan Guevara (GASGAS), +6.557

Championship Standings - After Round 8:

1. Pedro Acosta (KTM) 145pts; 2. Sergio Garcia (GASGAS) 90pts; 3. Jaume Masia (KTM) 72pts; 14. Izan Guevara (GASGAS) 32pts