MotoGP Germany: Suzuki denies Guevara in Moto3 day one

Leopard’s Tatsuki Suzuki left it to the final stages to deny Friday commander Izan Guevara the Moto3 honours at the Sachsenring.

The GasGas rider had held court across both of the opening day’s sessions until the Japanese rider arrived with his 17th of 19 afternoon laps to steal the show with a 1’26.363 effort. Teammate Dennis Foggia completed the top three with Sterilgarda Husqvarna’s John McPhee fifth.

Ayumu Sasaki, rather surprisingly, returned to the field following his Mugello incident which left him with a fractured collarbone. The Japanese rider initially expected to be out until after the summer break but passing fit for action on Thursday afternoon to join his Max Racing teammate McPhee in preparation for the demanding 27-lap race. Alberto Surra doing likewise on the Rivacold Snipers as the full contingent of Moto3 riders wheeled out for FP1.

Aspar’s Guevara set the opening pace with a 1’28.566 as the laps began to register before Deniz Öncü bettered on the Tech3 KTM. Red Bull Ajo rider Jaume Masia suffering the first fall of the weekend at turn one as the spaniard slid out from third.

Guevara repeatedly refined the pace from P1 in quick succession. Breaking into the 1’27’s with his fifth attempt to sit over three-tenths clear of the pack, with Andrea Migno now the nearest challenger after ten minutes on track. Sic58’s Riccardo Rossi, Foggia and McPhee rounding out the top five until the standings shuffled again.

Impressive pace found VisionTrack Honda’s Scott Ogden circulating sixth as the first practice unfolded. McPhee dropped to 11th with Josh Whatley familiarising himself with the tight German track from 26th.

A CIP Green Power attack saw Kaito Toba lead Joel Kelso to sixth and seventh as the session met