Moto3: 17th-to-win at Aragon for masterful Masia

Round 11 of the 2020 Moto3 World Championship took place in MotorLand Aragon for the Grand Prix of Aragon. Raul Fernandez started from pole position for the fourth time this season, while championship leader Albert Arenas was third on the grid.

It was Arenas who made the holeshot ahead of Fernandez and Celestino Vietti who dropped from second on the grid to third by the first turn, through which everyone made it cleanly – a surprise with the nature of both Moto3 racing and the first turn of Aragon which has seen many a first turn incident over the years.

Fernandez had shown excellent speed all weekend, and was determined to express that in the race. The #25 passed Arenas for the lead at turn five at the opening lap and tried to impose his pace on the field. 

Tatsuki Suzuki had also had a strong first lap. He passed Vietti for third place in a move that started at turn four and ended at turn seven before closing in on and passing Arenas for second at turn 12. 

One turn later and Gabriel Rodrigo’s race ended in dramatic fashion; a huge high side launching the Argentinian into the dirt on the outside of turn 13 right in front of Darryn Binder who had to check up. 

The first lap had been a disappointment for Vietti, who dropped a position to Suzuki as previously mentioned and proceeded to hold the pace of the front three who had a small advantage at the end of the first tour. Vietti’s lack of pace saw Romano Fenati put a move on his compatriot for fourth place, and the #55 quickly closed the gap to the leaders. 

Another gap emerged between Vietti and the leaders at the end of lap two. Moto3 is known for its frantic racing, and one of the things which is a part of that franticness is the number of relatively pointless and needless overtakes that take place in the group which often consists of 15 or more riders. The cause of this gap between Fenati in fourth and Vietti in fifth is a prime example, as Alonso Lopez dived down the inside of Vietti at turn 25 on the second lap. 

Turn 15 leads on to the back straight, one of the key features in Aragon thanks to its considerable length. In fact, when thinking about Aragon it is impossible to disregard the straight from the equation of who is likely to be fast and who is likely to struggle in MotorLand. For example, in Moto3 qualifying yesterday we saw some of the most blatant cruising yet as riders looked for a tow primarily to gain time in the back straight which, on a Moto3 bike, is so long. A tow can gain you half a second or more in the straight at Aragon, so it makes sense that it is a priority. It is peculiar, then, that on lap two of the race, a rider would want to ruin their run onto the back straight in order to gain fifth place. 

The move of Lopez cost both him and Vietti contact with the front four, therefore costing them both the slipstream of those ahead, and in fact it cost Lopez so much drive onto the back straight that halfway down it he had already fallen back behind Vietti. It then also cost him a position to Darryn Binder who was able to better the Spaniard on the brakes. 

The final lap would be a good time to make the move Lopez made on Vietti. You ruin the run of your rival onto the back straight and with only two corners and one braking zone left on the track you stand a good chance of victory – especially if it were a duel. However, it was a Moto3 group and it was lap two of the race – not ideal timing from a rider who knows Aragon perfectly well after three years of Grand Prix racing and many more before that of Spanish championship and CEV. 

The next lap Lopez made a much better move on Vietti who was struggling to keep the pace early on –  as he often does – having chosen the harder option rear tyre. On this occasion, the #21 slipped through at turn 12 as he chased Binder who, in turn, was chasing the front four after passing Vietti earlier on in turn seven.

Of course, as punishment for taking out his teammate, Fenati, last weekend in Le Mans,  Lopez had to take a long lap penalty in Aragon. He took it on lap four, the last available opportunity, and slotted back into the pack in 17th just ahead of John McPhee who took his long lap penalty – awarded for riding slowly on the racing line in Q1 on Saturday – the lap before. Both had a strong pace and the chance to come back to the leaders, but of course there was a lot of work to do to get there.

By lap five the front four had become a front five as Binder arrived on the back of the group. There were two seconds, then, back to Jaume Masia who now headed up the chasing group after a strong opening phase of the race which he started in 17th. 

Things were starting to look interesting for the #5 on lap seven. The Spaniard had detached himself from the second group and was closing the gap to the leaders quite significantly as they began to battle. 

By lap nine the gap ahead of Masia had almost halved, and the Spaniard had been joined in his chase of the leaders by McPhee – who had made a brilliant recovery after his long lap to go from 18th to sixth in around seven or eight laps – and Jeremy Alcoba. 

The gap was under one second at the beginning of lap 10 when McPhee took point from Masia. The chasers were closing in as the leaders continued to fight amongst themselves.

Lap 11 saw the chasers merge with the leaders, as McPhee, Masia and Alcoba joined Fernandez, Arenas, Binder, Suzuki and Fenati to make an eight-rider front group.

Those eight stayed together until the end of the race and were not joined by another. It was Masia who led onto the 19th and final lap, the Spaniard holding the advantage from Raul Fernandez who had been strong at the front all race. 

Fernandez’ major strong point was braking, especially into turn one where most of the braking is done in a straight line. The #25 was able to dive underneath Masia, with whom he will share the Red Bull KTM Ajo box next season, and lead through turns two and three.

Masia fought back at turn seven, although there was an immediate response from Fernandez on the exit and the Red Bull KTM rider held on into the reverse corkscrew while Alcoba looked for a way through on Masia, in turn opening up the door for Binder although the South African could not take advantage.

Binder made his move stick at turn 15, going around the outside of Alcoba in 14 for the inside at the turn that leads onto the back straight. Again, the final lap is a good time to make this move, and Binder executed it well as he did not have to enter too tightly, meaning he kept good momentum onto the straight. That allowed him to slipstream Raul Fernandez – who had already been passed by the missile – disguised as a Leopard Honda – piloted by Jaume Masia. 

Things got tight into the final corner. Masia was comfortable in front but Fernandez was edged out by Binder. The #25 was also under pressure from Alcoba, but held a tight enough line to keep his compatriot at bay, securing himself a maiden Moto3 podium. 

It was a podium on which he was joined by Jaume Masia who took a sensational second career win in the Moto3 World Championship, his first since Argentina 2019. From 17th on the grid, it was going to take something special from the #5, and that is what he delivered – fast on his own and clinical in the battle, the Leopard Racing Honda rider was outstanding as he moved himself to within 36 points of the championship lead and therefore into minor championship contention.

Second place for Darryn Binder was similarly deserved, having been able to close a gap of around one second to the leading four after he passed Vietti on lap two, and fighting well inside that front group once he arrived. Whilst it is true that on occasion Binder’s aggression over-steps the mark, today was proof that when he keeps it clean his racecraft and overtaking ability can be magnificent. 

A maiden podium was also well deserved for Raul Fernandez who has taken criticism this year for being too weak in the group. At one point in Aragon, it looked as though a similar tale would be told. Between turns one and three on one lap in particular, Fernandez dropped from first to fifth. Based on previous evidence, the expectation was that Fernandez would fade from there. Instead, he fought back immediately, reclaiming third place by turn five and the lead by the beginning of the next lap. It seemed to be a different Raul Fernandez on track, one who fought toe-to-toe with his opposition both on pace and – crucially – striking power in the fight. 

Fourth place went to Romano Fenati who went from sixth to fourth in the short run to the line out of the final turn. It was quite a dramatic finish, in actuality, for those just off the podium, with fourth through seventh split by just 0.069 seconds. The big loser in this was Albert Arenas, who dropped from fourth to seventh by the line, costing him critical points in the title fight ona day when two of his rivals – Vietti and Ai Ogura – were out of the podium fight and another – Tony Arbolino – was out of action due to COVID-19 regulations. 

On the positive side for Arenas, he does still extend his championship lead – it now stands at 13 points. However, with the win of Masia and his points gain in this race – and the consistency he has shown from Le Mans to Aragon – it is possible to say there are now six riders in with a shot of the championship. This conflict is far from symmetrical. 

Between Fenati in fourth and Arenas in seventh were John McPhee in fifth, closing in on Arenas by a couple of points and the Scot’s gap now stands at 35. Behind McPhee was Alcoba in fifth after another impressive ride by the Spaniard who kept his aggression mostly in check despite that sketchy move into the reverse corkscrew on the final lap. 

Behind Arenas was Tatsuki Suzuki who got a full race distance in for the first time since he broke his wrist in Misano, and that is possibly what caused him to drop back in the second half of the race. The Japanese was still clear of Vietti, who finished ninth in the end. It could have been a disaster for the Italian, having chosen the harder option rear tyre – a decision that helped him to win in Le Mans one week ago although this time it seemed to take too long to come up to temperature for the #13. However, with Arenas only two places ahead, Vietti only lost two points in the title fight and should be back in the mix next weekend. 

Completing the top 10 was Dennis Foggia; while Kaito Toba was 11th, ahead of Carlos Tatay, Ayumu Sasaki, Ai Ogura – another to benefit from Arenas’ misfortune in the run to the line – and Deniz Oncu who rounded out the points in 15th.

In 16th was Filip Salac, from Alonso Lopez who was not able to recover after his long lap penalty and finished 17th. Behind the #21 was Niccolo Antonelli, who was ahead of Sergio Garcia and Yuki Kunii who completed the top 20. 

Riccardo Rossi was 21st, in front of Jason Dupasquier, Stefano Nepa, Ryusei Yamanaka, Barry Baltus, Davide Pizzoli and Khairul Idham Pawi who was the last of the 27 classified finishers.

Gabriel Rodrigo was the first retirement and had to be taken to the medical centre. After the Argentinian’s heavy crash, only Andrea Migno and Maximilian Kofler crashed out. A surprisingly low number of retirements with such tricky conditions with the temperatures being as low as they have been this weekend.