MT Helmets star Ivan Ortola converted his pole position in a stunning last-lap battle win with David Alonso and Colin Veijer, earning his second Moto3 win of the season at Silverstone.
Ortola and third place starter Joel Kelso launched off the line, taking the top two places into the first corner.
Kelso, aboard his KTM Boé Motorsports, went one position better to take the lead heading into Turn 3 and went off into the distance, formulating a half-second lead after the first lap.
The chaotic opening lap continued as David Muñoz and Jacob Roulstone ran wide and rejoined in the lower pecking order. The Australian Roulstone received a long lap penalty.
Daniel Holgado aboard his GasGas Tech3 wanted to make amends for his recent form to formulate together a podium spot, with the Spaniard sneaking up on the inside of Ortola in Copse corner on Lap 2.
Both MLav team-mates of Scott Ogden’s and Vincente Perez’s race ended in the final corner of lap 2, with Ogden caught up with nowhere to go when Angel Piqueras lost control on his Leopard Racing bike.
Holgado elevated his GasGas Tech3 to the leader Kelso, he overtook on Lap 3 which allowed the rest of the grid to close up.
Kelso regained the lead down the Hangar straight on Lap 5 with leading pack riders Alonso and Stefano Nepa formulating moves on Ortola at the same corner.
Holgado retook the lead at Copse once more on Lap 6, but Ortola and MT Helmets later reclaimed the lead in Maggots and Becketts.
The leading seven riders continued to jostle for track position as the race entered the second half, with tyre wear starting to take effect.
The main protagonists heading into the final five laps were Ortola, Holgado, Alonso, Veijer and Kelso.
Kelso ran wide in the first sector on Lap 11, which put him back down to seventh, and therefore ending his race wins hopes.
Ortola formulated a half-second lead once more but championship leader Alonso and Holgado put themselves back into contention, with Veijer announcing himself to the podium runners in the closing stages.
Alonso led proceedings on Lap 13 with tyre wear appearing to benefit him, with the Columbian looking to make it his seventh win of the season.
Ortola and Holgado’s aggressive fight heading into Lap 14 led to Ortola and race leader Alonso, but multiple overtakes saw the top five change positions left right and centre.
Alonso fell to fifth in the last lap before rising to third as Ortola mustered a way through at Copse, with Veijer who had his moment in the sun fell from first to third at Maggots and Becketts.
The last lap battle wasn’t finished there as down the Hangar straight, the trio made small contact and fought hard to claim the top spot.
All riders came away unharmed but with all three riding to the bike’s absolute limit the winner was unpredictable.
Ortola ran wide in the the final few corners, but was able to position his bike well into the final corner to take the win.
Ortola’s win reduces the championship deficit by five points, with Veijer rounding off the podium spots.
Holgado, LevelUp’s Nepa, Ryusei Yamanaka and Kelso all finished within 0.250s of each other to occupy fourth to seventh spots.
Adrian Fernandez led the following group to take seventh for Leopard Racing, with Jose Antonio Rueda, Tatsuki Suzuki and Matteo Bertelle following suit in a photo style finish.
A whole 11 seconds adrift of the leading 11 riders saw Muñoz recover from his early race mistake to take 12th, with Esteban and Riccardo Rossi separated by only 0.2s in the end.
Nicola Carraro sealed the final point spot with 15th, narrowly edging out Fillippo Farioli of making it back-to-back point scoring positions.
Roulstone finished a distant ten seconds behind, with rookie David Almansa only managing to finish in 18th.
Thai rider Tatchakorn Buasri still is yet to find his first points in Moto3, finishing in 19th.
Swiss rider Noah Dettwiler and Danial Shahril occupied the final two spots in the final classification.
