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Argentina Moto3: Masia goes fifth-to-first on final lap

Jaume Masia converted his first Moto3 pole position into his maiden grand prix victory at Termas de Rio Hondo, moving up from fifth place on the last lap.

Podium: race winner Jaume Masia, Bester Capital Dubai, second place Darryn Binder, CIP Green Power, third place Tony Arbolino, Team O

Podium: race winner Jaume Masia, Bester Capital Dubai, second place Darryn Binder, CIP Green Power, third place Tony Arbolino, Team O

Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Masia won following a massive crash in the morning warm-up with Sergio Garcia, which forced the latter to skip the race.

The 18-year-old had a scrappy start from pole position and while he was part of the big lead group, he spent most of the race outside of the top five.

He started the final lap, when Darryn Binder (CIP) was in the lead, only fifth, but gained three positions on the back straight to run second behind Gabriel Rodrigo (Gresini) at Turn 5.

The Bester Capital Dubai rider then made a forceful move two turns later, and held off the charge of Rodrigo in the last overtaking spot of the track at Turn 13 to take his maiden victory in Moto3.

Rodrigo tried to retake the lead on the outside line of the corner but ended up being forced wide by Binder.

The younger brother of Moto2 rider Brad Binder, Darryn secured his best-ever result in second, while Snipers rider Tony Arbolino celebrated his maiden podium in third.

Local hero Rodrigo in the end also fell behind Niccolo Antonelli (SIC58 Squadra Corse) and Ayumu Sasaki (Petronas Sprinta) to sixth.

Lorenzo Dalla Porta (Leopard) was well-placed to win as he led two of the last four laps but in the end the Italian was shuffled back to seventh, followed by fellow Italian Dennis Foggia (Sky VR46).

Dalla Porta's teammate Marcos Ramirez and Kaito Toba (Honda Team Asia) completed the top 10, the latter keeping a two-point lead in the championship, having won the season opener in Qatar.

Toba narrowly escaped crashing out when he was involved in an incident between John McPhee (Petronas Sprinta) and Alonso Lopez (EG0,0), but the Japanese rider was the only one of the three to stay upright.

Aron Canet (EG0,0) was also fighting for the lead for the majority of the race, but in the end settled for 12th while Romano Fenati (Snipers) was a disappointing 16th, three places ahead of Alex Viu (Angel Nieto), who replaced the injured Albert Arenas.

PrustelGP duo Jakub Kornfeil and Filip Salac crashed in the early stages, Can Oncu and Kazuki Masaki both fell at Turn 1, while Vicente Perez had a highside at Turn 13.

Race results

Pos. Rider Bike Time/Gap
1 Spain Jaume Masia  KTM 21 Laps
2 South Africa Darryn Binder  KTM 0.108
3 Italy Tony Arbolino  Honda 0.295
4 Italy Niccolo Antonelli  Honda 0.386
5 Japan Ayumu Sasaki  Honda 0.519
6 Argentina Gabriel Rodrigo  Honda 0.550
7 Italy Lorenzo Dalla Porta  Honda 0.588
8 Italy Dennis Foggia  KTM 0.671
9 Spain Marcos Ramirez  Honda 0.792
10 Japan Kaito Toba  Honda 1.280
11 Italy Andrea Migno  KTM 1.629
12 Spain Aron Canet  KTM 1.775
13 Japan Tatsuki Suzuki  Honda 1.836
14 Italy Celestino Vietti Ramus  KTM 1.978
15 Spain Raul Fernandez  KTM 2.092
16 Italy Romano Fenati  Honda 2.273
17 Japan Ai Ogura  Honda 2.350
18 United Kingdom Tom Booth-Amos  KTM 9.798
19 Spain Aleix Viu  KTM 9.904
20 Makar Yurchenko  KTM 10.136
21 United Kingdom John McPhee  Honda 26.464
22 Riccardo Rossi  Honda 27.044
23 Japan Kazuki Masaki  KTM 39.985
24 Czech Republic Jakub Kornfeil  KTM 40.177
25 Filip Salac  KTM 58.474
26 Turkey Can Öncü  KTM 1 Lap
Ret Spain Vicente Perez  KTM 8 Laps
Ret Spain Alonso Lopez  Honda 10 Laps

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