Raul Fernandez crushed his Moto3 opposition to claim victory in the Portuguese Grand Prix by nearly six seconds, while Albert Arenas wrapped up the world championship despite finishing outside the top ten.
The Ajo KTM racer led the way off the start and quickly took advantage of battling title contenders Ai Ogura and Arenas in the early few laps to build a small gap.
He had managed to construct a 1.491 second lead after only four laps-crucially moving him well out of slipstream range-allowing the Spaniard to really hit his stride.
His leading advantage stood at a phenomenal 4.1 seconds just a few tours later as he set a string of fastest laps, continuing to pull away from his closest challengers across the rest of the 21-lap encounter to ultimately take the chequered flag a commanding 5.8 seconds clear of Dennis Foggia, his gap having been well over nine before backing off on the final circulation.
With Fernandez in a different postcode to his adversaries, the main battle being fought was for the 2020 riders title, Arenas and Ogura going head to head in the leading group over the opening stages.
The duo tussled over second in the early laps before Ogura dropped back to the fringes of the top ten, though his strategy looked risky as the next group of riders-having dropped as far as three seconds back behind the leading eight at around a thirds distance-then closed in and got stuck into the fight for the runners-up position.
With Ogura dropping further and further behind Arenas in the closing laps, it seemed that a determined Tony Arbolino-having recovered as part of the chasing next group having started 27th- would provide the Aspar racer’s sternest challenge for the championship.
The Italian dispatched Arenas for seventh with only five laps remaining and quickly set after the escaping group of five riders battling for second, leaving Arenas to drop back towards Ogura once more.
He found himself ultimately unable to make the difference to the riders ahead, effectively ruling him out of title contention unless Arenas ran into problems.
Foggia meanwhile managed to secure his third rostrum result of the year despite having to take a double-long-lap penalty early on for irresponsible riding during FP2,the Leopard man along with team-mate Jaume Masia helping to catch the leading group after serving their punishments.
Jeremy Alcoba scored his first ever Moto3 podium in third position, while Sergio Garcia and Arbolino completed the top five.
Darryn Binder ended his tenure with the CIP Green Power outfit with a solid sixth ahead of Celestino Vietti and Ogura, though the Honda Team Asia man’s result wasn’t enough to deny Arenas the title.
The Spaniard was bashed about as he desperately tried to remain within the top ten as the laps ticked down, though despite slipping to 12th on the final lap claimed his first grand prix motor racing title by just four points ahead of Ogura and Arbolino, the duo now tied on points.
John McPhee came home ninth for Petronas SRT, while Deniz Oncu rounded out the top ten finishers for Tech 3 KTM.
Masia was well in the conversation for another rostrum result having led team-mate Foggia after they cleared their respective penalties, though a crash late on at Turn 8 from second would bring his season to an early end.
