CF Moto Aspar rider David Alonso was resolute in his defence in the Moto3 Catalan Grand Prix, taking a fine victory to reclaim the championship lead.
The Colombian rider held firm to come out on top ahead of polesitter Iván Ortolá and Husqvarna’s Collin Veijer, with championship rival Daniel Holgado resigned to sixth.
Ortolá maintained the lead heading into Turn 1 despite an aggressive David Muñoz manoeuvre to prevent him from overtaking, as the stewards penalised him with a long-lap penalty.
Muñoz rejoined in 12th when he opted to take his penalty on the third lap, before dropping down further to 15th as he was caught napping.
Ortolá led proceedings but was unable to stretch his lead further than half a second due to a large group lapping quicker.
The core group of Ortolá, Alonso, Daniel Holgado, Collin Veijer, Luca Lunetta and Jose Antonio Rueda’s aggressive battles with each other saw a change in the lead following the straight in the earlier phases.
Holgado, the Championship leader heading into the race, led the following few laps as his late-breaking was utilised effectively to prevent others from overtaking.
Australian Joel Kelso – who’s team-mates with Muñoz – retired from the race at the twisty Turn 3 which marked his first retirement of the 2024 season.
Taiyo Furusato was punished with a double long-lap penalty for unnecessary slowing and after starting in fourth, his race was ruined further as he crashed out later that same lap.
On Lap 8 Ortola regained his lead, as a minor error forced Holgado back to sixth, showcasing the close proximity of multiple riders.
Muñoz was able to set consistent lap times to get himself back to the front pack, where he was as high as sixth with 10 laps to go as he was in contention for the win once more.
Tatsuki Suzuki’s struggles continued further as he exceeded track limits and was awarded a long-lap penalty himself.
Alonso and Ortolá were able to get out in front and both riders stretched the lead to 0.2s, with Veijer looking to pounce if the opportunity presented itself.
Alonso smashed the lap record with three laps to go, where the Columbian posted a 1.47.030s to try and put the race to bed.
The core group separated into only Alonso, Ortolá, and Veijer for the final two laps but Rueda bettered Alonso’s lap time as he put his bike in uncharted territory – posting in a 1.46.748s.
Alonso saved his tyres efficiently and set his best lap of the race on the final lap to round off the win, with Ortolá converting his pole into second followed by a last-lap overtake from Rueda to snatch third spot.
Veijer took home a respectable fourth spot ahead of Muñoz who was able to recover well from his long lap penalty.
Holgado’s tyres struggled towards the latter stages which put him 3.3s behind his championship rival, but Lunetta and team-mate Jacob Roulstone were too far back to mount a late charge.
Filippo Farioli and Adrian Fernandez had a photo finish to determine 9th and 10th, with the former coming out on top.
Ryussei Yamanka, Angel Piqueras, Stefano Nepa, and Joel Esteban were separated by only 0.102s as the group tussled into the very last corner to claim as many points on the board as possible.
Suzuki claimed the final point but was disappointed to be twelve seconds behind the race leader.
Alonso now leads the way in the Moto3 standings with 118 points, 14 ahead of second-place Holgado.
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