Moto3: Bastianini wins crash filled race

Enea Bastianini pulled out an amazing last lap three bike slipstream to win a crash heavy Moto3 Catalan Grand Prix, which saw only seventeen riders finish.

The Leopard Honda rider had started from pole before settling into the chasing group as Jorge Martin and Tatsuki Suzuki escaped at the front.

Jorge Martin was leading the race when he slipped off track and into the gravel with thirteen laps remaining which lead to Suzuki being caught and swallowed back into the huge lead group, which moved the Italian back into contention for the win.

Two further huge crashes saw Albert Arenas collect both Aron Canet (who attended the medical centre for his injuries) and Nicolo Bulega, shortly before Jaume Masia slip into John McPhee, sending him the other way and into Andrea Migno, taking the pair out of the race and thinning the leaders to five.

It was that huge slipstream at the beginning of the final lap that decided the winner, Bastianini winning by just 0.167s at the chequered flag. It is his first win since he took victory in the Japanese Grand Prix back in 2016.

Marco Bezzecchi rode sensibly to maintain his championship lead after seeing his rivals all fall, before a fiery dash to the line saw him snatch second for Redox PruestelGP.

After a superb battle with fellow KTM rider John McPhee RBA rider Gabriel Rodrigo claimed his first ever podium finish, thrid after Bezzecchi slipped past him at the line.

McPhee had been the top KTM in qualifying and translated that to strong race pace. He survived being clipped by Masia and lead in the closing stages before finishing fourth, his best result so far this season with CIP- Green Power.

Suzuki, who had found himself in front after Martin’s crash stayed upright and kept up with the lead pack before fading slightly to fifth on the final lap for SIC58 Squadra Corse.

Katio Toba (Honda Team Asia) was awarded sixth after Jakub Kornfeil (Redox PruestelGP) was handed a 1.6 second penalty during the race, demoting him to eleventh.

It also meant Gresini’s Fabio DI Giannantonio, whose early trip through the gravel looked to have ended his chances of a points finish moved up to seventh after also benefiting place-wise from all the crashes in front of him.

Alonso Lopez (Bester Capital Dubai) was the top rookie despite receiving a 12 place grid penalty before the race along with Livio Loi, finishing eighth just ahead of rival Dennis Foggia (Sky Racing VR46) who was promoted to ninth.

The final spot inside the top ten went to wild-card Raul Fernandez for the Angel Nieto Team.

It was a good day for the rookies in general with Makar Yurchenko also in the points in twelfth for CIP- Green Power, Adam Norrodin crossed the line 13th for Petronas Sprina Racing, Nakarin Atiratphuvapat (Honda Team Asia) 14th for his first points of the season with Loi recovering from his penalty for 15th with Reale Avintia Academy.

The only other riders to finish were Phillip Oettl and Lorenzo Dalla Porta, who along with Darryn Binder failed to finish the first lap, but remounted to finish lapped in the hope of points, which almost paid off.

Kazuki Masaki made it to lap four before exiting at turn five. Marcos Ramirez crashed the very next lap.

Ayumu Sasaki lasted until there were seven laps left to run, falling from eleventh at turn five.

Nico Antonelli missed the race after dislocating his shoulder in FP3, wild-card Vincente Perez also sat out race day following his qualifying crash.