A chaotic and dramatic 18-lap Moto3 grand prix kicked off racing action at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on Sunday.
A typical multi-rider battle boiled down to a wild final lap, which saw championship leader Daniel Holagdo (Tech3 KTM) crashing out of podium contention down at Turn 10.
Coming into the final corners, BOE Motorsports rider David Munoz found himself in the lead.
But he was raided into the final corner, as David Alonso (Aspar GasGas) and Leopard Honda’s Jaume Masia both picked his pocket.
This forced Munoz out slightly wide, and as he tried to recover he was knocked off by early leader Deniz Oncu.
As Alonso took the chequered flag 0.076s ahead of Masia, Oncu was demoted from third to 12th having been hit with a six-second time penalty (the equivalent of two long laps) for causing the Munoz collision.
This promoted his Ajo KTM team-mate Jose Antonio Rueda to a maiden grand prix podium, as the crash for Holgado moved Ayumu Sasaki (Intact GP Husqvarna) – who crossed the line fourth – to within 13 points of the championship lead.
Stefano Nepa was fifth for the Angeluss MTA KTM team ahead of SIC58 Honda’s Riccardo Rossi and Kaito Toba, Leopard’s Tatsuki Suzuki, Ryusei Yamanaka (Aspar) and poleman Ivan Ortola (Angeluss MTA Team).
Moto3 Catalan GP race results
Source: Autosport