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