Jaume Masiá is the new Moto3 world champion. The rider who led the championship arrived at the Qatar GP with the chance to seal the title and succeeded. In a fiercely contested race with several riders fighting for top positions as usual, the Spanish rider managed the events well and, despite some aggression, had the skill to attack at the right moment and take the lead.
At the start, Deniz Öncü (Red Bull KTM Ajo) made the holeshot to place himself first ahead of pole position holder Daniel Holgado (Red Bull KTM Tech3). Ayumu Sasaki (Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP) was in third before being overtaken by Diogo Moreira (MT Helmets-MSi/KTM). The Brazilian took the lead in the first lap. Meanwhile, Jaume Masiá (Leopard Racing/Honda) progressed from tenth to eighth.
Öncü’s start seemed too good to be true and, indeed, it was: the Turkish rider made a jump start, receiving a penalty of two Long Laps, which dropped him from the leading positions. Position swaps were constant at the front during this initial phase. After two laps, Masiá was already in fourth. During the third lap, there was a dispute with Sasaki, in an aggressive move that led the Japanese rider to drop to eighth.
Ivan Ortolá (Angeluss MTA Team/KTM) was also in the mix and leading with 11 laps to go, with Masiá in second. Sasaki recovered to third and even took the lead shortly after. David Muñoz (BOE Motorsports/KTM) was also in contention. With nine laps remaining, Moreira was out of contention after a crash… in an incident that was Ortolá’s fault, earning him a penalty of two Long Laps.
The laps passed and the outcome wasn’t clear, with constant position changes and even more riders joining the front battle, such as Riccardo Rossi (SIC58 Squadra Corse/Honda) and Adrián Fernández (Leopard Racing/Honda). After the penalty, Öncü also managed to get back in touch.
Three laps from the end, a situation emerged in the classification that would give Masiá the title, as he led and saw Sasaki drop to seventh. The Japanese rider completely lost the lead group and even dropped to ninth before starting to recover. However, he had to reach fourth considering Masiá was leading and distancing himself from Alonso.
The Spaniard clinched victory 68 milliseconds ahead of the Colombian and thus became champion: Sasaki tried hard to recover to the top three, but on the last lap, he collided with one of the rivals in front, dropping from fifth to sixth. Öncü completed the podium, with Rossi in fourth and Vicente Pérez (BOE Motorsports/KTM) surprising in fifth.
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