Rookie sensation Pedro Acosta scored his third win in four races as he pipped Romano Fenati to supremacy in the Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez.
Acosta recovered swiftly from a relatively lowly qualifying position of 13th to join the top five in the early laps, the championship leader battling with Tech 3 ace Deniz Oncu, team-mate Jaume Masia and Petronas SRT’s Brad Binder for the lead throughout the contest.
Things started to get busy in the closing tours as the lead group of seven began to battle, thus allowing the pursuing group of seven to join and create a bumper 14 man victory tussle as the chequered flag grew nearer and nearer.
Oncu looked keen to score a debut Moto3 win after leading the majority of the race, though the experienced Romano Fenati looked to have played his cards right as he fired into the lead as the three lead KTM’s squabbled between themselves with only a few tours remaining.
His chances took a hit though after Acosta nearly high-sided on the exit of Turn 6 on the penultimate circulation, allowing leading pair Oncu and Masia a near half-second advantage.
A determined Fenati made short work of the leading duo though and had completely eclipsed the gap by the end of the lap, though Acosta had the same idea and dived through to third at the start of the last lap.
Braking extremely late for Turn 1 got Acosta right back on terms with his leading KTM sqauddies, the Spaniard plotting where he could make a move to secure a third Moto3 victory.
He managed to make a double move at the Turn 6 bend that nearly spelled the end of his challenge just a few minutes earlier, Oncu and Masia both missing their braking points a touch and allowing Acosta through as he judged his own braking to perfection.
He managed to hold the lead through the final half-lap, the Ajo man covering off the inside well at the final turn to streak to the line and bag a stunning third victory in only the fourth start of his rookie lightweight class campaign as chaos ensued behind him.
Oncu braked desperately late as he tried to at least salvage a rostrum, though the Turkish rider lost the front of his machine and skittled into Masia and Binder, all three having to rejoin as a result.
Fenati came home second for MAX Racing just under half-a-second behind Acosta, while Jeremy Alcoba overcame a double-long lap penalty to secure only his second Moto3 rostrum.
The Gresini man received the penalty for riding slowly during Q1 on Saturday, dropping him from fifth early on to as low as 18th and out of the leading group, the final lap war allowing him to slide through to third.
Andrea Migno was fourth for Snipers despite a collision with the second Tech 3 challenger of Ayumu Sasaki that dropped him out of the top ten with only five laps to go, the latter following the Italian home to round out the top five.
Carlos Tatay recovered from a long-lap penalty of his own to bag sixth ahead of Prustel GP’s Jason Depasquier, while Niccollo Antonelli was eighth.
Xavier Artigas and Ryusei Yamanaka finished off the top ten, while the three final lap crashers of Oncu, Masia and Binder followed each other home out of the points in 20th, 21st and 22nd respectively.
Others that failed to score included pole-man Tatsuki Suzuki who crashed out at Turn 2 just past the mid-way point, Gabriel Rodrigo who high-sided from the lead at Turn 7 early on as well as John McPhee.
The Scot lost the rear of his Petronas SRT machine at Turn 7 on the opening lap on cold tyres, securing his fourth non score in as many starts in 2021.
Acosta now holds a commanding 51 point advantage in the riders points after just four races over Antonelli, with Migno a further two behind in third, while Masia drops to fifth and 56 points behind his team-mate following his non-score.
