Moto3 Aragon: Canet wins after Motorland Masterclass

Aron Canet survived the early challenges of his rivals and then staged a perfectly timed breakaway as the rest of the pack tangled with each other instead of giving chase to ease to victory in the Moto3 Aragon Grand Prix.

The Sterilgarda Max Racing Team rider powered away from pole position and had to manage an early track limits warning after a short battle for first, but once ahead he remained peerless at the front and was able to keep his KTM in line without having to worry about being followed, and held a final, huge 4.581s advantage over the line.

Canet reduced the championship points gap to just two with his win - a twelfth place qualifying left Leopard’s Lorenzo Dalla Porta swamped in battle after battle for position down the order. The Spaniard crossed the line tenth but was then handed his second post-race penalty in a row, being forced to drop a position by race direction for exceeding track limits on the last lap as per the new guidelines.

Consistently in second Ai Ogura made the biggest effort to catch the Spaniard, despite the injuries he picked up in Misano causing him discomfort. Unfortunately by the time he was able to run at the front of the chasing group the gap amassed by Canet was too large to reel in. The Japanese rider had to pull of some spectacular lines and block passes to keep second for Honda Team Asia in the closing stages, the impressive rookie collecting his first ever podium finish in the process.

The final rostrum spot was filled by Dennis Foggia (Sky Racing Team VR46), with the KTM working well at the Motoland track he was able to cut a way through from eleventh on the grid to equal his best ever finish in third.

He beat John McPhee in the race to the line, but the Petronas rider still had plenty of reasons to be cheered by his great performance which involved in some of the fiercest on-track battles as he worked his way up from ninth and into podium contention, with his job made all the harder when his knee slider pinged off with ten laps remaining.

The British rider kept an on fire Alonso Lopez ( Estrella Galicia 0,0) at bay, who in turn had to hold off Misano Race winner Tatsuku Suzuki (SIC58 Squadra Corse) on a late charge to keep fifth.

Sergio Garcia was right behind them to claim seventh on the second Sky Racing entry, he held enough of a small advantage to be safely ahead of Albert Arenas (Gaviota Angel Nieto Team) who won his personal battle to claim eighth over Gabriel Rodrigo (Kommerling Gresini).

Tony Arbolino (VNE Snipers) was once at the front of the chasing group before slipping to back to eleventh. He then gained a place back following Dalla Porta’s demotion.

Wildcard Carlos Tatay (Fundacion Andreas Perez 77) couldn’t quite live up to the hope he inspired by qualifying on the front row, but still gave a good account of himself in twelfth, picking off rivals in the final laps.

The remaining points on offer went to Ayumu Sasaki (Petronas Sprinta Racing) in 13th, Celestino Vietti (Sky Racing Team VR46) in 14th and Jakub Kornfeil (Redox PruestelGP) in 15th.

Second wildcard entry Gerard Riu Male (Baiko Racing TEam KTM) finished a solid 19th.

Jaume Masia was the first to fall,and was lucky to be avoided as his spinning bike left him sat in the middle of the track.

Marcos Ramirez also failed to go the distance, slipping out of contention while racing his teammate Dalla Porta with fourteen laps remaining.

A very physically damaged Tom Booth-Amos (CIP Green Power) gave everything he had for 27th.

Kaito Toba pulled out of the race weekend on Friday still suffering with the shoulder injury he picked up in Misano.

Romano Fenati and Niccolo Antonelli were also absent following their crashes last weekend, thier replacements Julian Jose Garcia (VNE Snipers) and Davide Pizzoli (SIC58 Squadra Corse) finished 20th and 22nd respectively.

Can Oncu was also absent, his brother Deniz was due to wildcard so was the natural replacement for the Red Bull KTM Ajo team, he finished 24th.