Enea Bastianini claimed his first victory of the 2018 Moto3 season after surviving a chaotic Catalunya Grand Prix which was littered with crashes. In a race which saw Jorge Martin tumbled out of the lead, with two more pile-ups in the leading group late on, Bastianini was the last man standing to win ahead of championship leader Marco Bezzecchi.
In the early going, the race looked to be panning out in a very similar fashion to Mugello with Martin storming into the lead, looking to reduce the number of riders in the front group. The strategy seemed to have worked with only Tatsuki Suzuki keeping pace but once the Spaniard slid out at turn nine on lap nine, the Japanese youngster was left all alone and was quickly reeled in by the chasers.
A leading group of ten formed in Martin’s absence but three would be eliminated on lap 16 as Le Mans winner Albert Arenas outbraked himself into turn four, skittling out Nicolo Bulega and Aron Canet, while two more dropped out four laps from the finish as Jaume Masia tripped over Andrea Migno.
Through all of the mayhem, Bastianini emerged as the winner after a drag race towards the first corner went his way on the final lap. Bezzecchi’s superior exit from the final corner saw him pinch second from Gabriel Rodrigo with the Argentine taking his first ever Moto3 rostrum. John McPhee finished fourth after leading onto the final lap while Suzuki took fifth after his early advantage was wiped out.
Kaito Toba was sixth while Fabio Di Giannantonio recovered from 21st after an early error to salvage seventh, just ahead of rookie trio Alonso Lopez, Dennis Foggia and Raul Fernandez.
Moto3 Gran Premi Monster de Catalunya: (Result)
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