After dicing for the lead of today’s Moto3 race at Catalunya for a few laps with Louis Rossi and Zulfahmi Khairuddin, Maverick Vinales decided that he had enough of overtakes and broke away on the tenth lap thanks to a massive battling group of aggressive riders that allowed him to escape and comfortably dominate the remainder of the race and take the victory – his second of the season.
If Vinales rode to a lonely victory with almost an eight second margin, the fight for second and third place was highly entertaining with the outcome unknown until the final turns of the last lap.
From seven to nine riders fought and squabbled for the remaining two podium positions, exchangin postions constantly, which finally saw standings leader Sandro Cortese prevail and take the second spot despite the hand injury he picked up FP3.
Monlau Competicion’s Miguel Oliveira grabbed the third spot after beating Le Mans winner Louis Rossi to the line.
The Race Direction was considering black flagging Rossi and his team for breaking the noise limits, but sagely decided to let the situation slide.
Alexis Masbou was fifth on his Honda NSF250R.
While wild card and CEV rider Alex Marquez (Marc’s younger brother) who is suffering from a hand and arm injury took the sixth position.
Seventh went GP racing veteran Hector Faubel followed by the ever impressive Zulfahmi Khairuddin.
Romano Fenati took the 9th spot after slicing through the field and he was able to join the battling group for the podium on the third to last lap.
Luis Salon rounded out the tenth spot and he was more than seven seconds from the battling front runners.
Moto3 Catalunya Race Results:01- Maverick Vinales – Blusens Avintia – FTR Honda M312 – 22 laps in 41’50.
96502- Sandro Cortese – Red Bull KTM Ajo Factory Team – KTM M32 – + 7.
75203- Miguel Oliveira – Team Estrella Galicia 0,0 – Suter Honda MMX3 – + 7.
85304- Louis Rossi – Racing Team Germany – FTR Honda M312 – + 8.
00705- Alexis Masbou – Caretta Technology – Honda NSF250R – + 8.
07506- Alex Marquez – Team Estrella Galicia 0,0 – Suter Honda MMX3 – + 8.
26707- Hector Faubel – BANKIA Aspar Team – KALEX KTM – + 8.
35508- Zulfahmi Khairuddin – AirAsia SIC Ajo – KTM M32 – + 8.
48009- Romano Fenati – Team Italia FMI – FTR Honda M312 – + 8.
60010- Luis Salom – RW Racing GP – KALEX KTM – + 16.
02311- Jakub Kornfeil – Redox Ongetta Centro Seta – FTR Honda M312 – + 16.
12712- Niccolò Antonelli – San Carlo Gresini Moto3 – FTR Honda M312 – + 16.
22213- Alan Techer – Technomag CIP TSR – TSR3 Honda – + 16.
79214- Alberto Moncayo – BANKIA Aspar Team – KALEX KTM – + 30.
13215- Jack Miller – Caretta Technology – Honda NSF250R – + 30.
13216- Jasper Iwema – MOTO FGR – MOTO FGR 3 Honda – + 30.
30417- Adrian Martin – JHK T-Shirt LaGlisse – FTR Honda M312 – + 30.
66318- Ivan Moreno – Andalucia JHK LaGlisse – FTR Honda M312 – + 30.
97019- John McPhee – KRP Racing Steps Foundation – KRP M3-01 Honda – + 31.
04220- Danny Kent – Red Bull KTM Ajo Factory Team – KTM M32 – + 43.
73821- Niklas Ajo – TT Motion Events Racing – KTM M32 – + 43.
76522- Arthur Sissis – Red Bull KTM Ajo Factory Team – KTM M32 – + 44.
11923- Simone Grotzkyj Giorgi – Ambrogio NEXT Racing – Suter Honda MMX3 – + 1’02.
00724- Isaac Vinales – Ongetta Centro Seta – FTR Honda M312 – + 1’11.
32025- Kenta Fujii – Technomag CIP TSR – TSR3 Honda – + 1’19.
06026- Luigi Morciano – Ioda Team Italia – Ioda TR002 – + 1’19.
31427- Giulian Pedone – Ambrogio NEXT Racing – Suter Honda MMX3 – + 1’19.
33128- Alessandro Tonucci – Team Italia FMI – FTR Honda M312 – 1 lap