Mugello Moto3: Arbolino edges Dalla Porta for maiden win

Snipers Honda rider Arbolino was third exiting the final corner, but managed to slipstream his way by both Jaume Masia's Bester Capital KTM and Dalla Porta's Leopard Honda to sneak the win by 0.029 seconds.

The top five riders were covered by just 0.257s at the line, although it was Dalla Porta that commanded the race for much of its 20-lap distance.

He had opened up an advantage of 0.6s - no mean feat with the dramatic slipstream effect at Mugello - at the end of lap seven after grabbing the lead off Arbolino at the start of lap four.

But poleman Arbolino was able to drag himself back into contention and repassed Dalla Porta to lead on lap nine, and the lead pack remained tightly bunched until the finish.

Dalla Porta even recovered from running wide on lap 11, passing five riders at the last corner Bucine to thrust himself right back into the frame for a first win of 2019.

He then traded the lead with Arbolino as well as the two SIC58 Hondas of Tatsuki Suzuki and Niccolo Antonelli, and looked well-placed to come out on top until he was nudged wide by Masia at San Donato at the start of the final lap.

Again, Dalla Porta regrouped, retaking the lead several corners later, but he didn't have enough of a margin exiting Bucine and found himself outdragged to the finish line by Arbolino.

Behind third-placed man Masia, Antonelli took fourth, while Dennis Foggia recorded his best finish of the season so far with fifth for Sky Racing VR46 KTM.

Le Mans winner John McPhee was sixth on his Petronas Honda, followed by pre-race points leader Aron Canet (Max Racing Team KTM) and Suzuki.

Notable retirements included Gabriel Rodrigo, who crashed his Gresini Honda on the fourth lap having briefly led early on, Dalla Porta's Leopard teammate Marcos Ramirez, who pitted with mechanical trouble, and Qatar winner Kaito Toba, who high-sided on lap 17 and took fellow countryman Ayumu Sasaki (Petronas) with him.

Romano Fenati (Snipers) also got caught up in a late crash with Andrea Migno (Nieto KTM).

Canet continues to hold a slender lead in the riders' standings, with Dalla Porta closing to just three points in second and Antonelli only a further 10 back in third.

Race results:

Cla	#	Rider	Bike	Laps	Gap
1	14	Tony Arbolino	Honda	20
2	48	Lorenzo Dalla Porta	Honda	20	0.029
3	5	Jaume Masia	KTM	20	0.078
4	23	Niccolo Antonelli	Honda	20	0.156
5	7	Dennis Foggia	KTM	20	0.267
6	17	John McPhee	Honda	20	0.403
7	44	Arón Canet	KTM	20	0.559
8	24	Tatsuki Suzuki	Honda	20	0.595
9	13	Celestino Vietti Ramus	KTM	20	1.566
10	40	Darryn Binder	KTM	20	1.597
11	25	Raúl Fernández	KTM	20	2.519
12	75	Albert Arenas	KTM	20	2.554
13	11	Sergio García	Honda	20	2.578
14	84	Jakub Kornfeil	KTM	20	22.830
15	76	Makar Yurchenko	KTM	20	26.669
16	31	Gerry Salim	Honda	20	26.745
17	6	Ryusei Yamanaka	Honda	20	26.777
18	61	Can Öncü	KTM	20	26.779
19	77	Vicente Pérez	KTM	20	26.873
20	12	Filip Salač	KTM	20	29.782
21	54	Riccardo Rossi	Honda	20	51.331
	71	Ayumu Sasaki	Honda	16	4 Laps
	27	Kaito Toba	Honda	16	4 Laps
	16	Andrea Migno	KTM	15	5 Laps
	55	Romano Fenati	Honda	15	5 Laps
	42	Marcos Ramirez	Honda	11	9 Laps
	69	Tom Booth-Amos	KTM	9	11 Laps
	21	Alonso López	Honda	7	13 Laps
	3	Kevin Zannoni	TM Racing	7	13 Laps
	19	Gabriel Rodrigo	Honda	3	17 Laps
	22	Kazuki Masaki	KTM	2	18 Laps
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