Daniel Holgado held off David Munoz to score his debut Moto3 victory in the Portuguese Grand Prix by a slender 0.160s, while Diogo Moreira nabbed a maiden class podium.
Holgado – who stepped back to the Tech 3 KTM outfit for 2023 having run in the premier Ajo squad in his rookie campaign last year – was a constant at the front of the 19-lap encounter, the Spaniard batting off the advances of Munoz, Moreira as well as pole-man Ayumu Sasaki as he tried to hold the leadership of the contest.
He managed to remain at the point despite the ruthless tussling behind him as the race entered its final circulation, though Munoz made his intentions clear early on as he snatched second away from Moreira at Turn 5 to begin a pursuit of his own maiden success.
The Boe Motorsports racer closed down Holgado but ultimately failed to get close enough through the final corner and on the run to the line, allowing Holgado to secure victory ahead of the 16-year old pilot.
Moreira meanwhile looked to have lost the opportunity for a first podium result after being relegated to fourth by rapid rookie Jose Antonio Rueda with only a handful of bends remaining, though a good run through the final corner allowed him to sneak past to complete the rostrum position by just 0.021s.
Rueda was thus forced to settle for a still-solid fourth on his world championship debut, while Jaume Masia completed the top five on his Leopard-run machine.
Sasaki ended up only sixth having lost out in the battle across the final couple of tours, while Stefano Nepa claimed seventh ahead of CFMoto pairing Xavier Artigas and Joel Kelso, who dropped out from leading contention in the closing stages.
Deniz Oncu completed the top ten off the back of a scorching charge through the field having started the race from pit-lane after stalling his Ajo KTM, the Turkish ace banging in the fastest lap of the race on the final tour to end up just 1.4 seconds from victory despite his early setback.
Ivan Ortola saw his chances of a front-running result ended with a long-lap penalty for a clash with GasGas rider David Alonso which saw the Colombian go down at Turn 1 early on, Ortola later crashing and retiring from the encounter.
VisionTrack Honda saw a promising day dashed early too after Scott Ogden crashed out on the opening lap, the Brit having looked good to fight well within the top ten after a strong off-season and Portuguese weekend, while Josh Whatley took the chequered flag 21st just ahead of the sister Boe entry of Ana Carrasco.
