THURSDAY, March 28, 2024
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#FullFlama48: Dalla Porta is the 2019 Moto3™ World Champion

#FullFlama48: Dalla Porta is the 2019 Moto3™ World Champion

The number 48 lifts the crown to become the first Italian lightweight class Champion since Andrea Dovizioso in 2004

Lorenzo Dalla Porta (Leopard Racing) is the 2019 Moto3™ World Champion. After a stunning race win at Phillip Island to secure the crown, the Italian from the Tuscan city of Prato becomes the first from his country to win a lightweight class World Championship since Andrea Dovizioso took the 2004 125 title. 

Dalla Porta made his first appearance in the Moto3™ World Championship at Indianapolis in 2015 replacing Isaac Viñales at Husqvarna Factory Laglisse, the same structure he raced with at the time in the FIM CEV Repsol Moto3™ Junior World Championship. Throughout the rest of the season he only failed to finish once, at Phillip Island, and took a best result of eighth after an impressive debut showing.

The following season, the Italian made more than just a few more appearances on the world stage. At Mugello he replaced Philipp Öttl at Schedl GP Racing and scored a point, and at Assen he replaced Jorge Navarro at Estrella Galicia 0,0, taking his second top ten in Moto3™. Later in the season, he then joined the Championship full time replacing Romano Fenati at Sky Racing Team VR46 from Silverstone on. The same year, his junior campaign continued and Dalla Porta was crowned 2016 FIM CEV Repsol Moto3™ Junior World Champion at the season finale in Valencia.

2017 saw the Italian join Pull&Bear Aspar Mahindra and make the permanent move up to the World Championship, although the year was a tougher one for Dalla Porta, especially given his earlier results. He did enough to gain the attention of Leopard Racing for the following season, however, and joined the high-profile team for 2018.

The switch was an immediate success and Dalla Porta was on the podium in the season opener at Losail, taking third place and his first rostrum finish in Grand Prix racing. From there followed some solid races as the Italian took a top ten finish more often than not, and his first win would come in the latter half of the season on home turf at Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli. More podiums in Thailand, Japan and Malaysia followed, putting Dalla Porta in the top five overall by the end of the year.

2019 saw that promise pay off even more as Dalla Porta put together an impressive campaign. Again it began with a podium in Qatar, this time in second, and the Italian took two more rostrum finishes at Le Mans and Mugello. He missed out at Catalunya through no fault of his own, but he was back on the box at the TT Circuit Assen before taking his first win of the season at the German GP. Another two podiums at Brno and Silverstone saw him exchanging the points lead with key rival Aron Canet (Sterilgarda Max Racing Team) as the two pulled clear at the top of the standings, but as the flyaways came around, Dalla Porta was the man with the momentum.

Another podium at Buriram was backed up by a second win of the season at the Twin Ring Motegi to put the him in the driving seat on the road to Phillip Island, and some key drama hit early in the Australian GP as closest rival Canet crashed out in the first few laps – leaving Dalla Porta with an open goal. In a classic Moto3™ showdown around one of the most challenging racetracks on the calendar, the number 48 was fearless to take a hard-fought third win of the year and secure himself the crown.

The 2019 Moto3™ World Champion is Lorenzo Dalla Porta!

 

Clockwise from top: Dalla Porta celebrates with his father, the Italian flag, his team and a few of his rivals

#FullFlama48: Dalla Porta is the 2019 Moto3™ World Champion
 
#FullFlama48: Dalla Porta is the 2019 Moto3™ World Champion
 
 

LORENZO DALLA PORTA: STATISTICS

•    Lorenzo Dalla Porta is the first Italian rider to win a Moto3™ title since the introduction of the class back in 2012. In the lightweight category, he is the first Italian rider to clinch the title since Andrea Dovizioso back in 2004. 

•    Dalla Porta is the 15th different Italian rider to clinch the title in the lightweight category. In addition, Dalla Porta’s title is the 24th in the lightweight category for an Italian and the 78th in Grand Prix racing.

•    Dalla Porta has won four races in his career so far, equalling Alex Marquez and Niccolo Antonelli in 13th place on the list of riders with most wins in the Moto3™ class.

•    Dalla Porta has been on the podium 10 times this season so far (more than any of his rivals) and 15 times in the Moto3™ class, equalling Sandro Cortese and Alex Marquez and one less than Joan Mir, who is in ninth place on the list of riders with most podium finishes in the class.

•    With 15 podiums, Dalla Porta moves into third place on the list of Italian riders with most podium finishes in the Moto3™ class after Enea Bastianini and Romano Fenati (24).

•    Dalla Porta became the first rider to clinch a Grand Prix World Championship having also won the FIM CEV Repsol Moto3™ Junior World Championship (since 2015).

•    This is the fifth time that a Honda rider has won the Moto3™ World Championship, adding to the titles won by Alex Marquez (2014), Danny Kent (2015), Joan Mir (2017) and Jorge Martin (2018).

•    Dalla Porta (129) is on the list of 10 riders who have led more than 120 laps since the introduction of the Moto3™ class in 2012. 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
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