Moto3: Fernandez dominates as Arenas clinches world crown

After 14 races, the 2020 Moto3 World Championship would be decided in the final round of the season in Portimao, the first Portuguese Grand Prix in eight years. Raul Fernandez started from pole, while title contenders Ai Ogura, Albert Arenas and Tony Arbolino started from fifth, sixth and 27th, respectively. 

Before the race had even started, there were problems for Gabriel Rodrigo at the start of the warm up lap, and the Argentinian was forced to start from pit lane.

When the race did get underway, it was Raul Fernandez who took the holeshot from Tatsuki Suzuki, ahead of Albert Arenas and Ai Ogura, although Ogura passed Arenas immediately for third in turn three.

It was Fernandez who led led lap 1, whilst Tony Arbolino was already up to 16th at the end of the first tour, a tremendous start for the #14.

There was soon a sense of deja vu about the race as, as in both Valencia races, raul Fernandez began to escape as Ogura, Arenas, Masia and Alcoba fought for second at the head of a breakaway group of nine riders. That group stretched back to 10th-placed Sergio Garcia, although the group was reduced to seven when the Leopard riders, Masia and Dennis Foggia took their long lap penalties, awarded for irresponsible riding during free practice.

As usual, the typical Moto3 group battle broke out over the next laps, sans Fernandez who was tearing away at the front. By the end of lap 12, the battle for second had been re-joined by the Leopard duo, and they brought Arbolino, as well as many others, with them. 

Three laps later and Arbolino now Arenas’ primary challenger for 7th, after Ogura had fallen victim to some of the new arrivals in the battle for second. 

Having passed Arenas, though, there was now a two-second gap ahead of Arbolino up to sixth place, which was now at the back of a new breakaway group fighting for second thanks to the battling that took place over the course of three laps between Arenas and Arbolino. 

The Italian was able to break away from his Spanish rival, and when Jaume Masia crashed out on lap 18 it was good news for Arbolino, as it gave him a few extra points. However, the #14 was unable to close on the group ahead, and when he engaged in a fight with Darryn Binder – the #40, too, having found his way past Arenas – it halted the Snipers Team rider’s already blunted charge. 

The battling between Arbolino and binder brought both of them back to the group behind, but the final lap was almost disastrous for Arenas. The Spaniard had been without rear grip for five laps and when the group got aggressive in the closing stages there were three or four moments where he was flirting with disaster. The group went back to 12th place, giving four points, but Arenas was unaware of his position when he slipped to the back of it. Sensing the trouble he may have been in, the #75 went on the attack, and it nearly cost him at turns 10 and 11. 

At the front, it was the completion of another domination by Raul Fernandez, who won by just under six seconds, although at its peak his gap was over nine seconds. The Spaniard goes to Moto2 having finished fourth in the Moto3 World Championship this season, with two Grand Prix wins and four podiums – a solid season for the #25 capped with this masterpiece.

Joining the Spaniard on the podium was Dennis Foggia who climbed onto the rostrum for the first time since Barcelona, and Jeremy Alcoba, who took his first podium in the World Championship.

Fourth place went to Sergio Garcia, who has not dropped out of the top four since Aragon, ahead of Tony Arbolino whose comeback took him from 27th to fifth, coming out on top of Darryn Binder. Celestino Vietti was seventh in his final Moto3 race, ahead of Ai Ogura, John McPhee and Deniz Oncu who completed the top 10. 

Niccolo Antonelli was 11th, ahead of Albert Arenas, whose 12th place saw him clinch his first world title and the first for the Aspar team in Moto3, and their first since Nico Terol won the final 125cc world title in 2011. 

Behind the newly crowned champion was Ayumu Sasaki, ahead of Carlos Tatay and Kaito Toba who completed the points finishers. 

Barry Baltus was 16th, meaning he will move up to Moto2 without having scored a point in Moot3. Behind the Belgian was Ryusei Yamanaka, who finished 17th after starting last, finishing ahead of Adrian Fernandez – brother of Raul – who was riding in place of Filip Salac; while Stefano Nepa and Romano Fenati rounded out the top 20. 

Andrea Migno was 21st, ahead of Yuki Kunii, Jason Dupasquier, Riccardo Rossi, Maximilian Kofler, Davide Pizzoli, Gabriel Rodrigo and Khairul Idham Pawi who was the final classified finisher in 28th. 

There were only three retirements, with Alonso Lopez being the first, before Jaume Masia and Tatsuki Suzuki both crashed from podium contention.