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Edition

Australia
Race report

Aragon Moto3: Mir wins thrilling sprint by 0.043s

Joan Mir racked up an eighth victory of the Moto3 season in a thrilling 13-lap dash to the flag at Aragon, edging out Fabio di Giannantonio by just 0.043s over the line.

Race winner Joan Mir, Leopard Racing

Race winner Joan Mir, Leopard Racing

Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

The delay to the day's scheduled, caused by morning flag, meant the Moto3 race was cut down to just 13 laps and pushed back by 40 minutes from its original start time.

Poleman Jorge Martin and Enea Bastianini initially pulled clear of the field in the opening laps, but were soon joined by Mir and Aron Canet in what became an epic four-way dice for victory.

Leopard rider Mir however bided his time, not hitting the front of the pack until the eighth lap, the same tour that di Giannantonio - from 14th on the grid - broke into the top five.

Di Giannantonio surged firmly into contention for the remainder of the race, as the Italian, Canet, Martin and Bastianini all traded the top spot in the closing laps.

Mir's strategy was to take the lead at Turn 1 on the last lap in a daring move and try to retain it until the finish line, and some robust defending along the back straight was enough to give him the edge coming out of the final corner.

Gresini's di Giannantonio and Estrella Galicia man Bastianini tried to draft past on the run to the flag, but just missed out, falling 0.043s and 0.051s short respectively.

Martin (Gresini) had to settle for fourth, 0.170s down on Mir, followed by Canet (Estrella Galicia) another two tenths back.

John McPhee (British Talent Team) was best of the rest in sixth place, ahead of top KTM rider Marco Ramirez, Italian wildcard Dennis Foggia (Sky Racing Team VR46) and Philipp Oettl (Schedl GP).

Mir's nearest rival in the standings, Romano Fenati (Snipers) had work to do from 15th on the grid, but in the end could do no better than 10th.

It means he trails Mir by a huge 80 points with only 100 left to play for in the remaining four races of the season.

Race results:

Pos.#RiderBikeTime/Gap
1 36 spain Joan Mir  Honda 25'57.607
2 21 italy Fabio Di Giannantonio  Honda 0.043
3 33 italy Enea Bastianini  Honda 0.051
4 88 spain Jorge Martin  Honda 0.170
5 44 spain Aron Canet  Honda 0.392
6 17 united_kingdom John McPhee  Honda 0.590
7 42 spain Marcos Ramírez  KTM 0.707
8 10 italy Dennis Foggia  KTM 0.743
9 65 germany Philipp Ottl  KTM 1.168
10 5 italy Romano Fenati  Honda 1.298
11 16 italy Andrea Migno  KTM 1.330
12 58 spain Juan Francisco Guevara  KTM 1.505
13 24 japan Tatsuki Suzuki  Honda 1.961
14 8 italy Nicolo Bulega  KTM 2.050
15 7 malaysia Adam Norrodin  Honda 2.504
16 71 japan Ayumu Sasaki  Honda 2.539
17 64 netherlands Bo Bendsneyder  KTM 2.659
18 23 italy Niccolo Antonelli  KTM 2.665
19 12 italy Marco Bezzecchi  Mahindra 4.399
20 95 france Jules Danilo  Honda 11.404
21 15 spain Jaume Masia  KTM 14.540
22 40 south_africa Darryn Binder  KTM 14.599
23 96 italy Manuel Pagliani  Mahindra 14.703
24 37 spain  Aaron Polanco  Honda 14.859
25 84 czech_republic Jakub Kornfeil  Peugeot 17.595
26 14 italy Tony Arbolino  Honda 17.722
27 75 spain Albert Arenas  Mahindra 21.467
28 27 japan Kaito Toba  Honda 34.646
29 4 finland Patrik Pulkkinen  Peugeot 34.678
Ret 19 spain Gabriel Rodrigo  KTM 5 laps
Ret  48 italy Lorenzo Dalla Porta  Mahindra 6 laps
Ret  41 thailand Nakarin Atiratphuvapat  Honda 11 laps

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Edition

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