Unstoppable Alonso takes 14 wins, unprecedented dominance
Motorcycle enthusiasts will be able to tell their children and grandchildren that they watched David Alonso’s 2024 season. World champion by a stunning margin, but this was not enough for the Spanish-Colombian and the rest of the year was dedicated to completing an impressive performance that will be remembered for years to come and which he confirmed this Sunday at the Grand Prix. Solidarity of Barcelona.
The Aspar rider followed his usual tactics, waiting to attack at the end, and took his 14th victory in 20 races held in Moto3 2024. He not only broke Valentino Rossi’s record in the small category, but also did not break the record of any rider in the world history. The Cup, in any of the classes, has achieved that many victories in one year. He thus beat Daniel Holgado, second in the race and overall in the World Championship, and Angel Piqueras, who inherited the podium after a penalty to Adrian Fernandez.
The race in the small category was to be held in completely different temperatures than last May, with cooler temperatures but gradually increasing heat as time went on due to the rising sun. Of course, at 11am the temperature on the track and outside was still 11ºC.
At the start, David Alonso easily held pole over Ivan Ortola and Daniel Holgado, who took places from fifth position. Behind came Stefano Nepa’s first fall due to a touch from Luca Lunetta, for which he was penalized for a double long lap. And when the turns passed, the action began. Holgado overtook Ortola and chased the leader, while behind Valencian David Munoz, Adrian Fernandez and Angel Piqueras began to press.
After two laps, Alonso lost the lead and was overtaken by Holgado, Fernandez and Muñoz, preventing his escape and leading to a pack race. In fact, Jorge Martinez’s trainee “Aspar” dropped to sixth position, from where he began to study his opponents, his usual tactics in most races.
After the completion of the first third of the race, one of the Leopard Racing drivers, Fernandez, inherited the lead, and Holgado became second. But before the test was halfway through, the Valencian was back in command above Munoz, Fernandez, Ortola and Piqueras, with Alonso still sixth, followed by Joel Kelso, Tayo Furusato and Collin Weier.
It was on the tenth lap of the scheduled 18 that the first contact between Muñoz and Ortola occurred, putting Alonso back in front, moving up to third, which became second when he overtook Holgado and continued to pursue the returning Fernandez. play up to No. 96.
#31 tried to push a little to get away, but Alonso, Holgado, as well as Munoz were able to control the distance. In this situation, the last third of the final test of the season approached. But that’s when Alonso took the lead again thanks to a slide at the finish, with his Red Bull GasGas Tech3 teammate following in second place.
In the following laps there was more movement: Fernandez returned and took first place with 3 gros from the end, Muñoz and Ortola moved up to the other two boxes of the podium, continuing a very tight battle (including touches), and with Holgado and Alonso dropped to 4th and 5th -th places respectively.
But the second and first World Cup classifiers did not give up and on the penultimate lap they again became second and third. It was Alonso who took the lead and made two passes in a row to return to first place heading into the final lap of the year.
After this, Alonso continued his usual tactics. The Latino Colombian opened the necessary gap to escape with another victory, his 14th of the season in 20 races and his seventh in a row, confirming the greatest dominance in history in the small category and one of the greatest in the whole. life of the championship, in any of the classes.
Second place went to Daniel Holgado. Adrian Fernandez crossed the line in third position but was penalized three extra seconds after he made a valuable save at Turn 2 and did not lose the required time despite running away from Montmelo.
David Muñoz, on the other hand, was also forced to lose his position due to reckless driving. Angel Piqueras thus inherited the podium in fourth place, ahead of José Antonio Rueda, Ryusei Yamanaka, David Muñoz, Tayo Furusato, Jacob Roulston, Ivan Ortola and Collin Weier. Fernandez dropped to 11th place, ahead of Joel Kelso, Tatsuki Suzuki, David Almanza and Matteo Bertelle.
Results of the 2024 Moto3 race in Barcelona (Montmelo)
1 |
Mr. Alonso CFMOTO Team Valresa Aspar |
80 | KF MOTO | 18 | 25 | |||||
2 | D. Holgado Red Bull GAZGAZ Tech3 | 96 | GAZGAZ | 18 | 0.147 | 20 | ||||
3 |
K. Piqueras Leopard racing |
36 | Sling | 18 | 1063 | 16 | ||||
4 |
J. Antonio Red Bull KTM Factory Racing |
99 | KTM | 18 | 0.142 | 13 | ||||
5 | R. Yamanaka Helmets MT – MSI | 6 | KTM | 18 | 0.333 | 11 | ||||
6 | D. Muñoz BOE Motorsport | 64 | KTM | 18 | 10 | |||||
7 | T. Furusato Idemitsu Honda Team Asia | 72 | Sling | 18 | 0.195 | 9 | ||||
8 |
J. Roulston Red Bull GAZGAZ Tech3 |
12 | GAZGAZ | 18 | 0.272 | 8 | ||||
9 |
I. Ortola Helmets MT – MSI |
48 | KTM | 18 | 0.068 | 7 | ||||
10 |
K. Weier Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP |
95 | Husqvarna | 18 | 0.620 | 6 | ||||
11 | A. Fernandez Leopard racing | 31 | Sling | 18 | 0.705 | 5 | ||||
12 | J. Kelso BOE Motorsport | 66 | KTM | 18 | 1280 | 4 | ||||
13 | T. Suzuki Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP | 24 | Husqvarna | 18 | 6.125 | 3 | ||||
14 |
Mr. Almanza Sniper team Kopron Rivacold |
22 | Sling | 18 | 0.116 | 2 | ||||
15 | M. Bertel Sniper team Kopron Rivacold | 18 | Sling | 18 | 0.018 | 1 | ||||
16 |
N. Fabio LEVEL INCREASE – MTA |
10 | KTM | 18 | 0.013 | |||||
17 | S. Ogden FleetSafe Honda – MLav Racing | 19 | Sling | 18 | 0.087 | |||||
18 |
L. Lunetta SIC58 Squadron Kors |
58 | Sling | 18 | 1905 | |||||
19 |
K. Hornbeam Red Bull KTM Factory Racing |
83 | KTM | 18 | 0.475 | |||||
20 |
F. Farioli SIC58 Squadron Kors |
7 | Sling | 18 | 0.122 | |||||
21 |
E. O’Shea FleetSafe Honda – MLav Racing |
8 | Sling | 18 | 0.660 | |||||
22 |
X. Zurutuza Red Bull KTM Factory Racing |
85 | KTM | 18 | 2426 | |||||
23 |
N. Dettwiler S.I.P. |
55 | KTM | 18 | 19,892 | |||||
24 |
T. Boisri Idemitsu Honda Team Asia |
5 | Sling | 18 | 0.530 | |||||
25 |
M. Uriarte CFMOTO Team Valresa Aspar |
89 | KF MOTO | 18 | 1120 | |||||
DNF | R. Rossi S.I.P. | 54 | KTM | 6 | Abandonment | |||||
DNF | S. Nepa LEVEL INCREASE – MTA | 82 | KTM | 1 | Abandonment |