Moto3: Binder takes maiden win as Arenas and McPhee crash out

Round nine of the 2020 Moto3 World Championship took place in Barcelona at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya for the Catalan Grand Prix. Tony Arbolino started from pole position but was the only rider in the top five to choose the hard-option rear tyre. 

The Italian was able to convert his pole position into a holeshot, leading into turn one from Gabriel Rodrigo.

Arbolino was able to hold the lead until the beginning of lap three, when he dropped to fourth place and Albert Arenas took the race lead from Rodrigo and Darryn Binder. This set the tone for the rest of the race, with the usual Moto3 slipstreaming causing major position exchanges on the kilometre-long front straight. 

But perhaps the most pivotal moment of the race, and perhaps one of the most important moments of the championship, came on lap six, when John McPhee tried to pass Albert Arenas on the inside of turn four, lost the front and took the pair of them out of the race. Arenas was, rightly, livid with McPhee and gave him a lesson in some of the more aggressive corners of the Spanish language – or possibly Catalan – in the gravel trap afterwards. With Ogura and Vietti qualifying poorly there was a big chance for both McPhee and Arenas to make ground in the points in this race, and the #17 took that opportunity from both of them. 

It was not until the final two laps that there was any real breakaway. Dennis Foggia led it, from Darryn Binder, Tony Arbolino, Alonso Lopez and Sergio Garcia. The winner would come from one of these five. 

Binder hit the front at turn five, edging Foggia out enough to mean he dropped the third behind Arbolino. The #14 looked inside Binder at turn 10 but the #40 was too strong on the brakes, denying the Italian his final opportunity to pass and a clean run through the final sector ensured Binder took his first World Championship victory. 

Arbolino held onto second place from Foggia, who was in turn under pressure from Sergio Garcia behind into turn 10 but was able to hold the speed around the outside to keep hold of the podium. It was Arbolino’s third podium of the season, his first since Styria, and for Foggia his second top three of the year after his win in Brno. Arbolino was also the rider to take the most profit from the non-scores of Arenas and McPhee, as the #14 moved up to fourth in the championship, 27 points behind the lead. 

Fourth place for Sergio Garcia represented by far his best result of the season. The #11 has been underwhelming since his win in Valencia last season, but perhaps this is the catalyst for him to rediscover that race-winning form. Behind him was Alonso Lopez, another to take a season-best result and his best finish since he was fourth in Barcelona last season. 

The top six was rounded out by Romano Fenati, who was promoted two places after the flag thanks to track limits penalties for both Jaume Masia and Celestino Vietti, who ended seventh and eighth, respectively. 

For Vietti, eighth was not the perfect way to capitalise on the mistake of McPhee and the misfortune of Arenas, but it was a tricky weekend for the Italian so to come away with a smaller deficit in the championship compared to what he had going in is positive. 

Niccolo Antonelli was in the fight for the podium until a couple of laps from the end when he ran wide in turn 10. He finished ninth in the end, but this was a race that saw him return to something like the form he has been capable of in the past. Behind him was Gabriel Rodrigo, who completed the top 10. 

Ai Ogura was 11th. Like Vietti, it is possible to say that he did not capitalise fully on the non-scores of Arenas and McPhee. However, the Japanese rider, like Vietti, has struggled this weekend, so perhaps it is possible to say that he is fortunate that it should have been this weekend when they did not score, because he took his worst result of the season. Despite his struggles, Ogura goes to Le Mans with the championship lead. 

Filip Salac was 12th, ahead of Raul Fernandez, Stefano Nepa and Ryusei Yamanaka who took the final point in 15th.

Barry Baltus was 16th, ahead of Ayumu Sasaki, Kaito Toba, Jeremy Alcoba (Toba and Alcoba both being hit with long lap penalties) and Riccardo Rossi who completed the top 20. Behind, Yuki Kunii was 21st, ahead of Jason Dupasquier, Maximilian Kofler and Khairul Idham Pawi who was the final classified finisher in 24th.

Aside from Arenas and McPhee, who were the first retirements; Jose Julian Garcia – the replacement of Tatsuki Suzuki – Deniz Oncu, Davide Pizzoli, Carlos Tatay and Andrea Migno all retired. Garcia and Oncu went down in the same incident, whilst Tatay and Migno both retired with mechanical problems.