Moto3 Aragón-2 Race: Jaume Masiá wins another crazy race ahead of Ayumu Sasaki!

This Teruel Grand Prix is ​​the eleventh of fourteen rounds of the season for a category which opened hostilities in March in Qatar. If Albert Arenas (KTM, Aspar Team Gaviota) leads the general classification, it is by a margin which does not allow him to relax while there are exactly 100 points left to distribute between now and Portugal which will conclude this atypical season 2020.

Ai Ogura (Honda, Honda Team Asia) is only 13 points away, Celestino Vietti (KTM, Sky Racing Team VR46) on 18, Tony Arbolino (Honda, Rivacold Snipers Team) on 29, John McPhee (Honda, Petronas Sprinta Racing) 35, Jaume Masiá (Honda, Leopard Racing) 36 and Raúl Fernández (KTM, Red Bull KTM Ajo) 55.

It is also the latter (who could end up in Moto2 next year, we will return to the subject), with already four poles to his credit, who struck again during qualifying, ahead of Tony Arbolino and Celestino Vietti.

Gabriel Rodrigo (Honda, Kömmerling Gresini Moto3), saved after the catch-ups, will lead the second row. The Argentinian will be accompanied by the Championship leader Albert Arenas (KTM, Solunion Aspar Team Moto3) and Ayumu Sasaki (KTM, Red Bull KTM Tech3) who achieved his best qualifying of the season.

The third row will be composed of Jaume Masia, the latest winner, of Kaito Toba (KTM, Red Bull KTM Ajo) and another Japanese in the person of Tatsuki Suzuki (Honda, SIC58 Squadra Corse).

The sanctions were aggravated in the Moto3 category and it is Barry Baltus (KTM, CarXpert PrüstelGP), Alonso López (Husqvarna, Sterilgarda Max Racing Team) and Khairul Idham Pawi (Honda, Petronas Sprinta Racing) who pay the price for riding slowly during Q1 . All three received a “long lap” penalty for this Sunday’s race.

The conditions are good to cover the 19 laps of this Gran Premio Liqui Moly de Teruel, or 96,5 kilometers, with mild temperatures of 18° in the air and 22° on the asphalt.

Teruel Moto3™	Aragon-1	Aragon-2
FP1	1'59.813 Darryn Binder	1'58.076 Jaume Masia
FP2	1'58.144 Raúl Fernández	1'58.080 Jeremy Alcoba
FP3	1'58.383 Gabriel Rodrigo	1'57.564 Albert Arenas
Q1	1'58.644 Carlos Tatay	1'57.551 Filip Salač
Q2	1'57.681 Raúl Fernández	1'57.199 Raúl Fernández
Warm up	1'59.160 Raúl Fernández	1'58.867 Tony Arbolino
Course	Masia, Binder, Fernández	Masia, Sasaki, Toba
All time lap record	1'57.066 Jorge Martin (2018)

 

When the red lights go out... Tony Arbolino made an excellent start and quickly challenged the leadership at Raul Fernandez. He nevertheless managed to retain command and tried to escape in the first round, pursued by Albert Arenas, Celestino Vietti and Tony Arbolino.

Albert Arenas puts pressure on him and takes command to try to slow down the Ajo driver but it only works for a while.

Taking advantage of the straight line, gabriel rodrigo takes the lead after two laps, but it's still Raúl Fernández who takes over the direction of operations after a few turns.

Ayumu Sasaki seizes second position after three laps, while Brad Binder has already returned to the top 8.

The peloton remains very compact, which allows Celestino Vietti to lead him 15 laps from the finish, while Raul Fernandez gets stuck around 10th position.

27 drivers are grouped in less than four seconds at this point in the race, whileAlbert Arenas stands at the head of the group of furious people.

The Aspar pilot precedes Kaito Toba, Celestino Vietti, Darryn Binder, Ayumu Sasaki and Jaume Masiá 12 laps from the checkered flag, but this is obviously very temporary until Kaito Toba takes advantage of the straight line to place his KTM in the lead.

The mastery of these young pilots who constantly pass and re-pass each other while brushing against each other is quite impressive...

Nine laps from the flag drop, a group of five drivers led by Albert Arenas tries to escape but is quickly caught, which benefits Sergio García, started 28th, to appear in the leading group.

Three rounds later, tempers began to heat up and the actions became more virile. As per usual, Jaume Masia takes advantage of the speed of his Honda in the straight and the pace picks up. John mcphee et Tatsuki suzuki also returned among the leaders.

Albert Arenas still leads but we have the impression that Jaume Masia on guard under the handle for the last turn, under the eyes of Darryn binder who will have to try his luck braking...

In the penultimate lap, Jaume Masia takes the lead but has to let it pass Arenas and McPhee. He regains the advantage at the start of the last lap.

Arenas does not give up and attacks the straight line in front Masiá, Sasaki, Kaito Toba and Vietti.

Sergio Garcia et Tatsuki Suzuki fall in the last lap.

As usual, Jaume Masia benefits from the speed of his Honda and provides the 800th Grand Prix victory for the Japanese brand by winning ahead of the Red Bull KTM Tech3 rider Ayumu Sasaki who obtains his first Grand Prix podium.

In the championship, Jaume Masiá comes back to 24 points behind Albert Arenas : Nothing is decided…

Teruel Moto3 Grand Prix standings:

Credit rankings: MotoGP.com