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Edition

Australia

Barcelona Moto3: Binder wins as title rivals clash

Darryn Binder grabbed his maiden Moto3 win in a dramatic Catalan Grand Prix in which championship rivals John McPhee and Albert Arenas collided.

Darryn Binder, CIP Green Power

Darryn Binder, CIP Green Power

motosport.com

Crashing out of victory contention in the Misano double-header, CIP’s Binder made a last-lap pass for the lead on Leopard’s Dennis Foggia to grab the first win of his grand prix career.

Poleman Tony Arbolino – who will step up to Moto2 in 2021 with Intact GP – grabbed the holeshot off the line on his Snipers Honda and held the spot for the first two laps.

Arbolino was slipstreamed by Arenas and Binder on the run into Turn 1 on the third tour, before Gabriel Rodrigo on the Gresini Honda took the lead on lap four.

Petronas Sprinta’s McPhee had worked his way up from 12th on the grid to third and was trailing Arenas on lap six when he lost the front of his Honda trying to go up the inside at Turn 4, wiping out the championship leader.

The lead, as usual in Moto3, changed hands a number of times over the next 10 laps, with Binder, Arbolino, Leopard’s Jaume Masia, teammate Foggia and Rodrigo all taking turns at heading the pack.

Foggia retaliated on Binder on lap 15 at Turn 10 having lost the lead at Turn 1 the lap before to the CIP rider.

San Marino winner Foggia proved difficult to overtake and led onto the 21st and final lap ahead of Binder, Arbolino, Max Racing’s Alonso Lopez and the EG 0,0 Honda of Sergio Garcia in the breakaway lead group.

Binder nailed his run through the first four corners and muscled his way up the inside of Foggia into the Turn 5 left-hander, forcing the Leopard rider wide and allowing Arbolino to come through into second.

Arbolino was unable to find a way through on Binder on the run to the end of the lap, with the CIP rider getting to the chequered flag 0.103 seconds clear. 

Binder joins his KTM MotoGP-mounted brother and 2016 Moto3 champion Brad as the only South African to have won in the lightweight class since its switch to the Moto3 formula in 2012. 

Foggia held onto third to complete the podium ahead of Garcia and Lopez, while Masia and VR46’s Celestino Vietti took the chequered flag in sixth and seventh.

However, both were docked one place for exceeding track limits on the final lap, promoting Max Racing’s Romano Fenati to sixth. SIC58’s Niccolo Antonelli and Rodrigo completed the top 10. 

Ai Ogura crossed the line 11th on his Team Asia Honda and moves into the championship lead, though only by three points over Arenas. 

McPhee remains third and 24 points adrift of Ogura, while Arbolino’s podium lifts him into contention in a joint fourth in the standings with Vietti – the pair just 27 points down.

Race results:

Cla # Rider Bike Time
1 40 South Africa Darryn Binder
KTM 38'32.507
2 14 Italy Tony Arbolino
Honda 38'32.610
3 7 Italy Dennis Foggia
Honda 38'32.664
4 11 Spain Sergio García
Honda 38'32.739
5 21 Spain Alonso López
Husqvarna 38'32.893
6 55 Italy Romano Fenati
Husqvarna 38'33.943
7 5 Spain Jaume Masia
Honda 38'33.725
8 13 Italy Celestino Vietti Ramus
KTM 38'33.800
9 23 Italy Niccolo Antonelli
Honda 38'34.435
10 2 Argentina Gabriel Rodrigo
Honda 38'34.439
11 79 Japan Ai Ogura
Honda 38'34.519
12 12 Czech Republic Filip Salač
Honda 38'35.043
13 25 Spain Raúl Fernández
KTM 38'36.079
14 82 Italy Stefano Nepa
KTM 38'37.307
15 6 Japan Ryusei Yamanaka
Honda 38'37.549
16 70 Belgium Barry Baltus
KTM 38'38.163
17 71 Japan Ayumu Sasaki
KTM 38'39.236
18 27 Japan Kaito Toba
KTM 38'46.063
19 52 Spain Jeremy Alcoba
Honda 38'46.712
20 54 Italy Riccardo Rossi
KTM 38'46.944
21 92 Japan Yuki Kunii
Honda 38'55.709
22 50 Switzerland Jason Dupasquier
KTM 38'57.539
23 73 Austria Maximilian Kofler
KTM 39'07.976
24 89 Malaysia Khairul Idham Pawi
Honda 39'08.003
16 Italy Andrea Migno
KTM 33'30.215
99 Spain Carlos Tatay
KTM 31'36.116
9 Italy Davide Pizzoli
KTM 20'25.588
53 Turkey Deniz Öncü
KTM 14'44.621
20 Spain Jose Garcia
Honda 14'44.723
17 United Kingdom John McPhee
Honda 9'12.123
75 Spain Albert Arenas
KTM 9'12.268

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Edition

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