Argentina Moto3: Pawi stuns field with crushing win on drying track

Despite the track being wet, a few dry patches and no rain meant the entire field kicked off the race on slicks with the exception of Livio Loi.

Although he was 10th on the grid, Loi understandably rocketed through the field at the start.

However, he could only settle into second as Pawi had an even better launch, and lapped several seconds quicker despite running on dry tyres.

Impressively, the Malaysian rookie built a lead of 20 seconds over the course of just eight laps.

As the track dried out, most of Pawi's advantage in pace disappeared, but he continued to stretch his advantage.

Loi on the other hand quickly dropped down the field, eventually settling for 16th.

Estrella Galicia rider Jorge Navarro and another Malaysian Adam Norrodin separated themselves from from the rest of the chasing pack at the halfway point onwards.

Norrodin waited for his chance to overtake until the final lap, but lost control at the very final turn of the race. He suffered a violent crash, but managed to make it to the finish on foot in 11th.

Navarro secured second as a result, with Brad Binder completing the podium after a race-long battle with several others. The South African was closely followed by Andrea Locatelli, Joan Mir and Hiroki Ono.

John McPhee passed Jorge Martin to take seventh with the Spaniard losing eight seconds during the final stages - but still finishing eighth.

The top 10 was completed by Jakub Kornfeil and Qatar winner Niccolo Antonelli.

Aron Canet was part of the second group, running as high as fourth, but failed to finish the race after crashing out.

Race results:

Pos	Rider	Team	Bike	Time
1	Khairul Idham Pawi	Honda Team Asia	Honda NSF250RW	41:35.452
2	Jorge Navarro	Estrella Galicia 0,0	Honda NSF250RW	26.170
3	Brad Binder	Red Bull KTM Ajo	KTM RC 250 GP	30.060
4	Andrea Locatelli	Leopard Racing	KTM RC 250 GP	30.339
5	Joan Mir	Leopard Racing	KTM RC 250 GP	30.506
6	Hiroki Ono	Honda Team Asia	Honda NSF250RW	30.736
7	John McPhee	Peugeot MC Saxoprint	Peugeot MGP30	32.493
8	Jorge Martin	ASPAR Mahindra Team Moto3	Mahindra MGP30	40.596
9	Jakub Kornfeil	Drive M7 SIC Racing Team	Honda NSF250RW	45.667
10	Niccolo Antonelli	Ongetta-Rivacold	Honda NSF250RW	45.893
11	Adam Norrodin	Drive M7 SIC Racing Team	Honda NSF250RW	46.173
12	Juan Francisco Guevara	RBA Racing Team	KTM RC 250 GP	51.434
13	Fabio Quartararo	Leopard Racing	KTM RC 250 GP	57.893
14	Maria Herrera	MH6 Laglisse	KTM RC 250 GP	1:05.983
15	Philipp Oetll	Schedl GP Racing	KTM RC 250 GP	1:08.426
16	Livio Loi	RW Racing GP BV	Honda NSF250RW	1:10.165
17	Enea Bastianini	Gresini Racing Moto3	Honda NSF250RW	1:11.664
18	Nicolo Bulega	SKY Racing Team VR46	KTM RC 250 GP	1:11.791
19	Gabriel Rodrigo	RBA Racing Team	KTM RC 250 GP	1:12.151
20	Romano Fenati	SKY Racing Team VR46	KTM RC 250 GP	1:12.270
21	Alexis Masbou	Peugeot MC Saxoprint	Peugeot MGP30	1:12.382
22	Bo Bendsneyder	Red Bull KTM Ajo	KTM RC 250 GP	1:12.522
23	Francesco Bagnaia	ASPAR Mahindra Team Moto3	Mahindra MGP30	1:18.884
24	Karel Hanika	Platinum Bay Real Estate	Mahindra MGP30	1:25.115
25	Fabio Di Giannantonio	Gresini Racing Moto3	Honda NSF250RW	1:31.975
26	Jules Danilo	Ongetta-Rivacold	Honda NSF250RW	1:38.400
27	Tatsuki Suzuki	CIP-Unicom Starker	Mahindra MGP30	1:38.784
28	Stefano Valtulini	3570 Team Italia	Mahindra MGP30	1:39.051
29	Andrea Migno	SKY Racing Team VR46	KTM RC 250 GP	1:44.035
30	Darryn Binder	Platinum Bay Real Estate	Mahindra MGP30	+1 Lap
31	Lorenzo Petrarca	3570 Team Italia	Mahindra MGP30	+1 Lap
32	Fabio Spiranelli	CIP-Unicom Starker	Mahindra MGP30	+1 Lap
Ret	Aron Canet	Estrella Galicia 0,0	Honda NSF250RW