A stunning drag to the line sees the Spaniard emerge victorious in enemy territory
Jorge Martin (Del Conca Gresini Moto3) has taken a stunning win at the Autodromo del Mugello to claw back some momentum in the title fight after two consecutive DNFs, taking the flag by thousandths ahead of home heroes Marco Bezzecchi (Redox Prüstel GP) and Fabio Di Giannantonio (Del Conca Gresini Moto3) in a classic three-way photo finish. The fifth closest podium of all time in the class didn’t disappoint, and it leaves Bezzecchi just three points ahead of Martin at the top of the Championship, with ‘Diggia’ only five points further in arrears. It also means KTM are just a single point ahead of Honda in the constructors Championship as Moto3 stays as close as ever.
Under sunny Tuscan skies, Martin took the holeshot with a dream start from pole, putting some daylight between him and the chasing pack even into San Donato for the first time. But it was an equally ideal start for Championship leader Bezzecchi, who pounced from the second row to slot into second. Martin immediately got his head down and was already trying to pull away, but Bezzecchi and Di Giannantonio, who also had a great start. were able to hunt him down – thus beginning a stunning three-way fight for the win that would go down to the wire.
Bezzecchi would blast through on the straight, and then the two Del Conca Gresini Moto3 machines would be able to pull away in the first two sectors – with a concertina of tantalising stakes seeing the three bikes stuck back together by the time they tucked in over the main straight. The number 12 of Bezzecchi looked to have been just starting to lose out to the Honda duo ahead over the last few laps, however, before the KTM’s legs on the straight propelled him back into touch. Much closer as the last lap dawned, the Italian then blasted past into San Donato but headed wide – with Martin leading ‘Diggia’ back past and the trio remaining in that order down to that all-important final corner.
After testing out the slipstream throughout the race, the three entered Bucine in line with Martin aiming to get the best exit and stay ahead, Di Giannantonio hoping to slipstream his teammate before the line and Bezzecchi back in touch to try and attack both. And Martin was the man whose plan worked to perfection and the three thundered towards the flag – ahead by just 0.019 to head the three-way photo finish. Bezzecchi just pipped ‘Diggia’ for second, with just 0.024 splitting the two Italians in the fifth closest podium finish in the history of the lightweight class.
Bezzecchi, Martin, Di Giannantonio, Moto3 race, Italian MotoGP 2018
It was a huge group battle for fourth that Enea Bastianini (Leopard Racing) emerged in the lead of for some time, before it began to split into smaller groups and Gabriel Rodrigo (RBA BOE Skull Rider), Andrea Migno (Angel Nieto Team) and Tony Arbolino (Marinelli Snipers Team) caught the Leopard machine. Battling throughout the latter stages, it was Rodrigo who took P4 over the line – a tenth ahead of Migno, with 0.082 back to Bastianini and just 0.029 to Arbolino in P7.
Lorenzo Dalla Porta (Leopard Racing) crossed the line in eighth at the head of an Italian trio, with Niccolo Antonelli (SIC58 Squadra Corse) and impressive wildcard Manuel Pagliani (Leopard Junior Team) completing the top ten. Aron Canet (Estrella Galicia 0,0) had an expensive day in the title fight in P11, ahead of John McPhee (CIP – Green Power) and a much improved finish for Darryn Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) in 13th. Le Mans winner Albert Arenas (Angel Nieto Team) took P14, with the points completed by Marcos Ramirez (Bester Capital Dubai).
By MotoGP
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- Bezzecchi, Moto3 race, Italian MotoGP 2018
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- Martin, Moto3 race, Italian MotoGP 2018