Just seven points separate the top two in the Championship after Assen. There’s everything to play for before the break.
Aron Canet (Sterilgarda Max Racing Team) had a more under-the-radar weekend in Assen, and as key rival Lorenzo Dalla Porta (Leopard Racing) fought for the win and only missed out on it by a whisker, the gap at the top is down to just seven points. Not quite enough to mean the win could swing everything, but enough to change the colour of the fight at the front. If Canet wanted breathing space, Assen didn’t go quite to plan.
It didn’t quite go to plan for Dalla Porta either though. Once again the Italian was the bridesmaid, and again by such a tiny margin: 0.045 this time. In addition, it was compatriot Tony Arbolino (VNE Snipers) who pipped him to the post, as he did in Mugello. But the 20 points are valuable regardless, and Dalla Porta is already a Grand Prix winner…just not this season. Will getting closer to the top make him more conservative in Germany? Or will it be full attack mode for the final win before the summer break?
Arbolino has certainly been the man in full attack mode of late, and he’s how homing in on compatriot Niccolo Antonelli (SIC58 Squadra Corse) in the standings, too. Both will want some good points in Germany as a minimum to try and cut down a bit of their deficit, but for them it’s more of a now or never. There’s no lead to protect, nothing too big to throw away and as the races reel on, that could prove important.
Something else that could prove important is the Sachsenring itself, which could play a key role in the standings going into the break. Moto3™ is often a freight train fighting it out and the slipstream can make and break many a heart in the lightweight class, but Germany has sometimes thrown up some breakaway wins – as it even did last year. Jorge Martin won comfortably then, and in 2015 Danny Kent obliterated the opposition. In between? The rain made the challenge quite a different one. And that can often be one of the cruxes of the Sachsenring too.
Get ready for more Moto3™ on Sunday 7th July as the standings prepare for another possible shuffle and the grid gear up for a final showdown before summer.
Championship standings
1 – Aron Canet (SPA – KTM) – 107
2 – Lorenzo Dalla Porta (ITA – Honda) – 100
3 – Niccolo Antonelli (ITA – Honda) – 83
4 – Tony Arbolino (ITA – Honda) – 76
5 – Celestino Vietti (ITA – KTM) – 68
