Moto3 Phillip Island: Victory sees Dalla Porta take title in style

Lorenzo Dalla Porta claimed his third win of the season after battling to the front of the pack in the Moto3 Australian Grand Prix and holding on in the run to the line in Phillip Island.

The Leopard rider became the first Italian lightweight title winner since Andrea Dovizioso claimed the crown back in 2004 in an aggressive  race, which saw the lead change hands continually, often more than once in a lap.

Dalla Porta had the speed and slipstream to pull back to the front on the run to the line every time the pack hit the straight, and timed it just right again on the final lap to finish first, with the win guaranteeing the title after an unforced error saw his main rival Aron Canet fly through the gravel early in the race.

His team-mate, polesitter Marcos Ramirez gained two places in the run to the line, his slipstream leaving him just 0,077s behind Dalla Porta.

His last move pushed Albert Arenas (Gaviota Angel Nieto Team KTM) back to third, and regular frontrunner Tatsuki Suzuki (SIC58 Squadra Corse) completely out of the podium places and down to fourth.

John McPhee (Petronas Sprinta Racing) dropped several places on the final lap after being in contention for the win, but that was due to his avoidance of the late fall of Celestino Vietti, which collected Jaume Masia instead and left him lucky to be on board to finish the final lap in fifth.

Darryn Binder survived his early contact with Ricardo Rossi as he struggled to stay aboard his CIP Green Power machine, causing the Italian to be the first rider to crash out of the race as Binder then rallied on his way to sixth.

Seventh went to Ayumu Sasaki after an impressive ride which saw him pick off his rivals after qualifying down in 28th on the grid.

Tom Booth-Amos (CIP Green Power) finally got a chance to shine, after making it though to Q2 for the first time the British rider had an engine change, rode well in the pack, avoided trouble and moved up to eighth in the final lap scramble, for his best result since joining Moto3.

He sailed past one-time race leader Tony Arbolino, who finished ninth for VNE Snipers and Stefano Nepa, who climbed into a top ten finish for Reale Avintia Arizona 77.

Dennis Foggia (Sky Racing Team VR46) was next to see the chequered flag in eleventh, just ahead of Romano Fenati, who also flirted with the frontrunners on his way to twelfth on the second Snipers entry as the size of the group of riders in contention made it easy to drop huge amounts of places in one corner.

Alonso Lopez was handed a long lap penalty for his contact with Filip Salac, which took the Czech rider out of the race, the Estrella Galicia 0,0 rider took the penalty immediately but strayed beyond the white line, so had to re-do the punishment, yet he still managed to come out in the points in 13th.

The remaining points on offer went to Ai Ogura (Honda Team Asia) in 14th and Jakub Kornfeil (Redox PruestelGP) in 15th.

Wildcard Rogan Chandler (Double Six Motor Sport Kalex KTM ) finished 19th, but a lap down.

Fellow wildcard and teammate Yanni Shaw failed to go the distance, with Sergio Garcia,Gabriel Rodrigo, Raul Fernandez, Andrea Migno and Kaito Toba all also crashing out of contention during the race.

Niccolo Antonelli withdrew, still suffering from shoulder pain following his QP crash.