Joan Mir took victory in Moto3 from Fabio Di Giannantonio and Enea Bastianini, in a close finish that could’ve seen either of the three win. Extreme fog with low visibility saw today’s timetable shuffled, and the Moto3 race distance was shortened to a thirteen lap sprint.
Jorge Martin started from pole position and got a great start off the line, leading the pack into turn one. At the end of the first sector, Bastianini had sneaked into the lead and from then on it was impossible to report on who was leading on what lap, as the lead constantly changed. Mir hit the front for the first time with six laps to go, but was constantly challenged throughout the remaining race distance. While the front lot were scrapping, Di Giannantonio had been sneaking up through the pack. After starting from fourteenth on the grid, he was first with three and a half laps to go, an impressive feat considering the tightness of the class. Mir hit the front again on the last lap and this time made it stick, but with the last straight came Bastianini and Di Giannantonio trying to get into his slipstream to take the lead. They weaved across the track from left to right, and Mir managed to break the slipstream just enough to come across the line just 0.04s ahead of Di Giannantonio.
An impressive ride from rookie Dennis Foggia, who qualified in fifth and crossed the race in eighth. The Aragon GP is only his second grand prix, and he put up a solid fight to hold off some of the top riders in the class. Romano Fenati was not so impressive. He’s struggled this weekend with pace and finished the race in tenth, after being initially pushed down the grid to fifteenth from the start. He is still hanging on to Mir in the standings, but his weak performance this weekend has allowed Mir to extend his overall lead to eighty points. Mir only needs to win the race next time out in Japan, to become the 2017 Moto3 World Champion.
Moto3 top ten:
- Joan Mir, Leopard Racing – 25:57.607
- Fabio Di Giannantonio, Del Conca Gresini Moto3 +0.043
- Enea Bastianini, Estrella Galicia 0,0 +0.051
- Jorge Martin, Del Conca Gresini Moto3 +0.170
- Aron Canet, Estrella Galicia 0,0 +0.392
- John McPhee, British Talent Team +0.590
- Marcos Ramirez, Platinum Bay Real Estate +0.707
- Dennis Foggia, Sky Junior Team VR46 Academy +0.743
- Philipp Oettl, Sudmetall Schedl GP Racing +1.168
- Romano Fenati, Marinelli Rivacold Snipers +1.298
