Izan Guevara defeated team-mate Sergio Garcia with an around-the-outside last-corner pass to win a thrilling Moto3 Spanish Grand Prix by just 0.061s.
The GasGas duo looked good to pull away from the rest of the field in the early laps along with Ajo’s Jaume Masia and Daniel Moreira – the quartet having pulled over 1.5 seconds on the rest – though as they started to scrap for the leadership the pursuing Deniz Oncu and Xavier Artigas joined the fray.
Further tussling throughout meant that Riccardo Rossi, Daniel Holgado as well as Ayumu Sasaki – who had to recover from a back of the grid start as well as a long-lap punishment for irresponsible riding in qualifying – created a nine man lead-group that diced for supremacy throughout the 22-lap encounter.
A long-lap penalty for Moreira for track limits, a crash for Rossi and a lack of late-race speed saw the battle for the lead fought between the top half-dozen riders, Oncu looking to score a first ever win as he crossed the start/finish line for the penultimate time at the head of the field.
Masia dived through to pass the Turkish rider at Turn 6, though he was soon relegated back to second once again as the Tech 3 man snapped back just two corners later.
A bold move on Garcia at Turn 9 saw Garcia emerge as Oncu’s biggest threat as they navigated the final few corners, though it would be Guevara that found glory by sending his Aspar-run KTM around the outside of his peers at the final bend to take the lead exiting the corner.
The Spaniard managed to get a good enough exit to take the chequered flag just fractions ahead of his team-mate Garcia, who had managed to pass Oncu on the inside of the final turn.
Gallingly for Oncu he was also passed by Masia for the final spot on the rostrum, leaving him to take fourth ahead of Artigas and Sasaki.
Kaito Toba was closing on the leaders in the clsoing laps but ultimately found himself too far adrift as he crossed the line seventh ahead of Ryusei Yamanaka and Holgado, with Moreira salvaging a top ten result after taking his long-lap.
Honda’s lightweight machines struggled badly for speed at Jerez, the best classified of the Japanese manufacturer’s entries being Scott Ogden in 12th for the Visiontrack squad, while Andrea Migno and Dennis Foggia could manage only 14th and 19th respectively as they slipped back throughout.
Foggia’s disaster means that Garcia now possesses a 21 point advantage over the Italian heading to Le Mans in two weeks time, with Masia now a further 12 markers adrift.
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