Jaume Masia conquers the #IndianGP with dominant victory, DNF for Tatsuki Suzuki

Le0pard Racing rider Jaume Masià rounds off the Indian Grand Prix in stunning fashion after putting in a sublime ride to take the first-ever Moto3 victory on Indian soil!

Another day dawned at the Buddh International Circuit with warm and humid conditions. Le0pard Racing started the first-ever Moto3 race in India from the first spot on the grid with Jaume Masià, who stormed qualifying in the wet for pole position on Saturday, and from the 27th place on the ninth row with birthday boy Tatsuki Suzuki.

In a great start to the race, a strong Jaume Masià took the front with determination. It wasn’t long until he started to open up a gap, and soon him and the rider behind broke free from the rest of the field.

For his part, Tatsuki Suzuki had a good start to the race from the back of the grid, climbing up positions with consistency during the first half of the race.

Jaume Masià kept the lead as the laps went by, making it impossible for the rider behind to even catch him as the race drew to a close, and although he was close to being overtaken at one point, the rhythm set by the Spaniard from that moment on was difficult to follow, riding in the 1’59 bracket for most of the race.

In the meantime, Tatsuki Suzuki continued to improve, both his pace and position, and when he was running in 17th place, another rider crashed right in front of him. Not being able to avoid him, the Japanese clashed with him and crashed too, being unable to rejoin the race. Thankfully, both of them were back on their feet.

Leading from beginning to end, an untouchable Jaume Masià crossed the finish line in first position to become the first-ever Indian Grand Prix Moto3 winner, claiming victory by a 5-second margin, the biggest this season in the lightweight class.

Having taken his second victory of the season and having climbed onto the podium for the 7th time in 2023 so far, Jaume Masià now sits in 2nd position in the Moto3 Riders’ Championship, equalling points with the leader.
Le0pard Racing now heads to Japan for another race week, happy with the work done and eager for more!

Jaume Masià – 1st

I wasn’t expecting to perform a race like this, I’ve never done anything similar. It was simply amazing, but it wasn’t easy. The team made the decision not to tell me anything during the race today, neither on the dashboard nor on the wall, because in Misano I was distracted by all the information, so I had to set my rhythm, which I was able to maintain throughout the whole race. Now that the race is done, I can say they made the right decision. What we’ve done today is a proof of the level we are reaching race by race, which of course wouldn’t be possible without the tireless work of the team and the support of my family. Japan awaits!

Tatsuki Suzuki – DNF

The weekend has gone from bad to worse. I was really hoping to, at least, perform a good race today. I was pushing hard to climb up positions, reaching 17th place, ten places up from my starting spot, and I think I had the pace to keep doing it, but then Ogden crashed in front of me and I couldn’t avoid clashing with him. We will keep pushing in Japan next week.