Mir Hangs on to Beat McPhee in Qatar

Joan Mir held his nerve in a final lap battle with John McPhee to win the opening round of the 2017 Moto3 season in Qatar. The Spaniard, who claimed last year’s Rookie-of-the-Year title, gave reason to suggest that the ultimate prize could be possible this season with a superbly-judged victory.

Although tonight’s race marked the start of a new season, Moto3 produced its usual excitement with a thirteen-rider group disputing the lead for much of proceedings. Front-row starter Philipp Oettl was among those staking a claim for victory but the German saw his hopes evaporate on lap thirteen after outbraking himself at turn six, wiping Juanfran Guevara out in the process.

Italian pair Romano Fenati and Fabio Di Giannantonio also had spells in the lead with slipstreaming playing a key role but the one constant at the front was Mir whose speed onto the start/finish straight would regularly see him lead across the finish line.

With a lap to go, McPhee made his bid for victory on the British Talent Team Honda, diving past Mir’s Leopard machine into turn one, but the Spaniard responded quickly and decisively, outbraking the Scotsman into turn four before controlling the remainder of the final lap.

McPhee took second to give the British Talent Team a podium finish to mark their Grand Prix debut while Jorge Martin translated pole position into third, just two tenths off the victory. Aron Canet produced one of the best showings of his Moto3 career in fourth while Fenati could only manage fifth on his return to the series.

Andrea Migno was the first KTM rider home in sixth, just ahead of the sole Red Bull Ajo rider Niccolo Antonelli, team-mate Bo Bendsneyder having crashed out of the leading group. Di Giannantonio fell to eighth, just ahead of Marcos Ramirez while Adam Norrodin claimed a career-best tenth, edging out rookie team-mate Ayumu Sasaki.

 

Moto3 Grand Prix of Qatar: Race Result (18 Laps)

Pos	Rider	Constructor	Team	Time/Gap	Pts
1	36. Joan Mir	Honda	Leopard Racing	38:27.364	25
2	17. John McPhee	Honda	British Talent Team	+0.135	20
3	88. Jorge Martin	Honda	Del Conca Gresini Moto3	+0.218	16
4	44. Aron Canet	Honda	Estrella Galicia 0,0	+0.252	13
5	5. Romano Fenati	Honda	Marinelli Rivacold Snipers	+0.453	11
6	16. Andrea Migno	KTM	Sky Racing Team VR46	+0.579	10
7	23. Niccolo Antonelli	KTM	Red Bull KTM Ajo	+0.661	9
8	21. Fabio Di Giannantonio	Honda	Del Conca Gresini Moto3	+0.878	8
9	42. Marcos Ramirez	KTM	Platinum Bay Real Estate	+1.693	7
10	7. Adam Norrodin	Honda	SIC Racing Team	+7.904	6
11	71. Ayumu Sasaki	Honda	SIC Racing Team	+12.221	5
12	11. Livio Loi	Honda	Leopard Racing	+16.748	4
13	40. Darryn Binder	KTM	Platinum Bay Real Estate	+16.786	3
14	8. Nicolo Bulega	KTM	Sky Racing Team VR46	+16.821	2
15	24. Tatsuki Suzuki	Honda	SIC58 Squadra Corse	+16.832	1
16	33. Enea Bastianini	Honda	Estrella Galicia 0,0	+16.943
17	95. Jules Danilo	Honda	Marinelli Rivacold Snipers	+27.583
18	41. Nakarin Atiratphuvapat	Honda	Honda Team Asia	+27.638
19	27. Kaito Toba	Honda	Honda Team Asia	+27.641
20	84. Jakub Kornfeil	Peugeot	Peugeot MC Saxoprint	+28.034
21	6. Maria Herrera	KTM	AGR Team	+28.150
21	96. Manuel Pagliani	Mahindra	CIP	+28.379
23	48. Lorenzo Dalla Porta	Mahindra	MAHINDRA MOTARD Aspar	+28.388
24	14. Tony Arbolino	Honda	SIC58 Squadra Corse	+29.520
25	12. Marco Bezzecchi	Mahindra	CIP	+54.344
26	64. Bo Bendsneyder	KTM	Red Bull KTM Ajo	+1:09.769
NC	4. Patrik Pulkkinen	Peugeot	Peugeot MC Saxoprint	+4 Laps
NC	58. Juanfran Guevara	KTM	RBA BOE Racing Team	+6 Laps
NC	65. Philipp Oettl	KTM	Südmetall Schedl GP Racing	+6 Laps
NC	75. Albert Arenas	Mahindra	MAHINDRA MOTARD Aspar	+14 Laps
NS	19. Gabriel Rodrigo	KTM	RBA BOE Racing Team	Injured