Ivan Ortola sealed the win with a last-corner overtake to snatch the victory away from home hero Colin Veijer, with David Muñoz rounding off the podium in an enthralling Moto3 contest at Assen.
Angel Piqueras launched off the line from his maiden pole position to remain in the lead into the first sector, before Ortola pulled off an aggressive move halfway through the first lap.
Championship leader David Alonso gained six places from his original 13th qualifying position inside the opening lap, with championship rival Daniel Holgado rising five places himself.
Holgado dispatched Leopard Racing’s Adrian Fernandez and the Husqvarna rider Tatsuki Suzuki on Lap 2, before the latter crashed the following lap.
Taiyo Furusato and home favourite Veijer both sneaked past pole-man Piqueras, putting the Leopard Racing rider fourth.
Lap 7 saw Ortola and Furusato establish a 0.8s lead advantage over the next group of bikes, but Veijer’s Husqvarna medium front and rear setup appeared to have been the right gamble as he reduced the gap in the next couple laps.
On Lap 9, Muñoz overtook Fernandez in the fast Turn 7 to put himself fourth, which held up the riders behind due to its difficult nature.
Veijer elevated himself up to second at the halfway point before slotting himself on the inside of Ortola’s MT Helmets KTM for the lead heading into Turn 16 on Lap 11.
Since taking the lead, he and Ortola started to stretch a gap at the front due to the pack behind continuing to squabble for position.
Furusato’s race ended on Lap 15 due to running off the track at high speed, he later rejoined on track in 13th after a strong start.
In the second half of the race, they saw the differences in tyre wear to try and get their bikes till the end, and despite appearing strong in second, Ortola was caught up by Alonso and Muñoz, who both overtook the Spaniard.
Alonso relinquished second as Ortola came fighting back as he mustered a double overtake on the championship leader and Muñoz to rise off into the sunset to claim second.
A series of aggressive overtaking moves from Alonso and Muñoz occurred in the fast Turn 7 and Turn 16 on the third to last lap. Both riders made contact once more on the penultimate lap when battling for the final place on the podium.
Ortola found something extra with his tyre wear in the closing two laps to push right to the back of the Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP bike of the hometown favourite, and made the move before the breaking zone around the outside.
Alonso was overtaken by Muñoz and Rueda in the final corner to miss out on the podium, but will extend his championship lead at the top.
Ortola earned his first win of the season having appeared on the rostrum three times already, with Veijer missing out by the narrowest of margins.
Muñoz and Rueda gained third and fourth respectively in the dying embers to deny Alonso, before Luca Lunetta made a stunning rise up the table to finish in sixth.
The Leopard Racing duo of Fernandez and Piqueras occupied seventh and eighth respectively, with Stefan Nepa and Ryusei Yamanaka rounding off the top 10 being separated by less than a tenth of a second.
Further back was championship contender Holgado who had a quiet race as he slotted his GasGas bike in 11th, but finished five seconds clear of Australian rider Joel Kelso.
Taiyo Furusato could only muster 13th after him running wide in the fast last sector, ahead of rookie Jacob Roulstone and Joel Esteban who rounded off the point scoring positions.
