The CFMOTO Gaviota Aspar Team rider returns to the track where he made his Moto3 debut three years ago and does so as a solid category leader 

Misano will always be a track marked in red for CFMOTO Gaviota Aspar Team rider David Alonso. There, on October 22, 2021, the young Colombian made his debut in the World Championship. He was only 15 years old and came to replace the injured Sergio García. Alonso will never forget that weekend, making his debut in the World Championship is something magical for any rider, even if the result was not the dreamed. The Colombian finished last, more than a minute from the lead. Two years later, in September 2023, Alonso returned to Misano, this time as an official World Championship rider, and the experience could not have been more different. The CFMOTO Gaviota Aspar Team rider shone, completing a masterful final lap and climbing to the top of the podium after a double overtaking just a few corners from the end, when he was still third. Now, Alonso arrives in Misano in an even better situation. He is no longer a rookie, he is now the World Championship leader. If last year he achieved his third World Championship victory there, he now arrives with eleven under his belt. This weekend he will fight to repeat his win there, as he did this year in Barcelona, and thus continue to extend his lead. 

Alonso has 75 points more than his closest pursuer, Collin Veijer, who has overtaken Iván Ortolá in the World Championship after his second place in Aragón. Ortolá is third with 80 points, while Dani Holgado is fourth with 81.

Joel Esteban faces, once again, a new track for him. In his first season in the World Championship, the CFMOTO Gaviota Aspar Team rider has already shown that he adapts quickly to unfamiliar tracks and hopes to do so again at Misano. In addition, for the San Marino GP, the Catalan has set himself some homework: to improve in qualifying and to be more competitive in the first laps of the race. Two challenges that, if he fulfils, will allow him to constantly fight with the leading group, his objective for the final stretch of the season.

David Alonso: “We arrive in Misano with a 75-point advantage. It is a track where I won last year, but this year with different tyres we will have to see how they perform, if there is as much degradation as in Aragón or if there is not so much to worry about. We will work on it throughout the weekend to plan the race in the best possible way.”

Joel Esteban: “Misano is a new track for me, but that is not a problem because this season I have already shown that I adapt well to tracks that I do not know. We are going to continue working as we have been doing in the last two races, trying to go straight to Q2. I know that I have to improve on a single lap, especially on the first attempt because I am not able to get the full potential of the tyre. In the race, I have to work on the first laps, because I lose positions and cannot find the pace to catch the group in front.”