For the Sterilgarda Max Racing Team, Misano ‘2’ represented another home Grand Prix but also another excellent chance to add to their win tally for 2021. Prior to the trip to the United States Romano Fenati had set Pole Position and was leading the race until a small mistake caused a DNF at the Gran Premio Octo di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini.
The weekend began with a reminder of the mid-October scheduling and a wintery blanket of rain caused the course to be extremely wet for Free Practice 1 and 2. On Saturday the climate barely improved as both Fenati and rookie teammate Adrian Fernandez set about finding their places as high as possible on the grid through the Q1 and Q2 sessions. It was Fernandez who took the opportunity to shine and reached 7th in FP3. The Spaniard then qualified in 11th with Fenati probing for pace in 19th.
The 23-laps of the Moto3 race began at 11.00 and in some belated sunshine and blue skies. Fernandez initially hovered on the fringe of the top ten and right at the front of the second group. Fenati was also part of the same gaggle but methodically worked his way forward to reach 11th and slightly adrift of the top ten. With ten laps to go Fenati was in contention. He finally reached a creditable 7th while Fernandez grabbed three points in 13th. Jaume Masia’s runner-up result means that Fenati slips to 5th in the world championship standings.
MotoGP travels to the Algarve International Circuit in Portugal in two weeks time for the penultimate race of the season. The series will close with the traditional visit to the Ricardo Tormo circuit in Valencia on November 13th-14th.
Romano Fenati: “I’m not happy about the position today but it was better speed than yesterday and Friday. It was important to make that comeback, and 21 to 7 was pretty strong but, overall, not what we were looking for here at Misano.”
Adrian Fernandez: “I’m happy with the result and it was important to get points. For this second race in Misano I had a good feeling on the bike and the start position of 11th helped this weekend: I was happy about that. Thanks to the team for their work and we go to Portimao in a good mood.”
Results – 2021 Moto3 World Championship, Round 16
1. Dennis Foggia (Honda) 39:33.170, 2. Jaume Masia (KTM) +0.292. 3. Pedro Acosta (KTM) +4.686 7. Romano Fenati (Husqvarna) +5.335, 13. Adrian Fernandez (Husqvarna) +18.050
World Championship standings
1. Pedro Acosta (KTM) 234pts; 2. Dennis Foggia (Honda) 213pts; 3. Sergio Garcia (GASGAS) 168pts; 5. Romano Fenati (Husqvarna) 147 pts; 24. Adrian Fernandez (Husqvarna) 23 pts.
