Ivan Ortola expertly snatched a second-straight Moto3 win in the Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez by passing David Alonso with just a corner to spare.
Ortola – who scored his maiden intermediate class victory last time out in Texas – showed leading pace from the outset of the 19-lap encounter, the Spaniard attempting to break away from the pack with leader Daniel Holgado in the early laps, though Jaume Masia managed to prevent them from escaping too far.
As the race progressed the leading pack steadily grew as a result of the breathless fight for the leadership, though Leopard Racing’s Masia looked to have settled in nicely at the head of the field as the lap counter ticked down.
An aggressive Alonso finally made his move on the very final tour though, the GasGas ace slipping through on Masia at Turn 7 – the latter swiftly relegated back to fourth as Ortola and a charging Ayumu Sasaki followed through in quick succession.
It was then Ortola’s turn to hit the front as he dived through on Alonso at the rapid second-to-last bend, the Angeluss MTA pilot carrying huge entry speed into the final hairpin in order to prevent a late counter-attack from Alonso.
Ortola’s strategy worked out perfectly as he narrowly held off Alonso on the run to the chequered flag by just 0.034s, while Masia managed to slip back past Sasaki at the same time Ortola snatched the lead to complete the rostrum positions ahead of the Japanese ace.
Jose Antonio Rueda managed to claim fifth despite having the spectre of a track limits warning hanging over him from very early on in the contest, while series leader Holgado ended up fading to sixth by the end.
Xavier Artigas brought his CFMoto entry home in seventh ahead of Tatsuki Suzuki, who inherited the spot after pole-man Deniz Oncu sustained a three second penalty for track limits, his punishment leaving him ninth ahead of Diogo Moreira who got the better of Snipers racer Romano Fenati at the death.
Ryusei Yamanaka looked to have the potential to battle for a maiden series rostrum result in the early stages of the race having shadowed Masia in catching the lead tussle, though a mechanical problem with his GasGas bike ultimately put him a lap down and out of contention.
