Moto3: Masia goes back-to-back in Aragon, Sasaki takes first podium

Round 12 of the 2020 Moto3 World Championship took place in MotorLand Aragon for the Grand Prix of Teruel. Raul Fernandez started from pole position, while championship leader Albert Arenas was on the second row of the grid.

It was a good start for Arenas, who jumped up into third place in the first turn, but it was Tony Arbolino and Raul Fernnadez who somewhat shared the holeshot, the pair side-by-side through the apex of turn one for the first time. 

Fernandez, though, was on the outside in the first turn, so had the inside for turn two and made that count, pushing out Arbolino who slotted into second, albeit or one corner only as Arenas and Vietti took advantage of the early loss of momentum for the #14 to demote him to fourth. 

Arenas had a strong first lap, and was able to lead over the line to start the second, but he was pushed back to second by Fernandez in turn one and then Rodrigo forced him back to third. 

Of course, the race soon evolved into the classic Moto3 chaos, and for the first laps over 20 riders comprised the front group, which was covered by three seconds or so. The lead changed many times, with many riders possessing it at some point: Arenas, Rodrigo, Vietti, Fernandez, and more all had their respective shots at the front, and in between periods of clean air were forced back in the pack from where they had to restart. 

In the latter laps, though, Arenas and Jaume Masia highlighted themselves as perhaps the strongest riders of the field, with Arenas spending a large portion of time at the front in the middle of the race and Masia the only rider who offered him much of a challenge. 

Arenas led onto the last lap, by which point the front group still arguably contained 20 riders, but the #75 was passed by Masia into turn one, and the Leopard Honda rider led the first sector of the final lap as Ayumu Sasaki and Celestino Vietti made their respective ways up to third and fourth. 

Masia was passed back by Arenas into turn seven, a move the championship leader had pulled countless times throughout the race in response to moves in the first sector, and this one made on Masia was made with class, not sitting his rival up but costing him momentum in the middle of the corner to deny the #5 an opportunity to retaliate into turn eight.

The move from Arenas, though, allowed Vietti to close the slight gap that had formed between himself and Sasaki, and after the front three had been able to break away in the first part of the lap thanks to battling behind, they were now joined by the rest of the freight train once more. 

Arenas led onto the back straight and, as he had done throughout the race, got fantastic drive out of turn 15. However, it was not strong enough this time, as he was engulfed at the end of the straight, first by Masia, and then by Sasaki and Kaito Toba. Arenas tried to retaliate around the outside, but found his path blocked by the riders he had just passed, and there was not route back to the podium for the #75. 

So, after struggling to better Arenas throughout the race, Masia timed his move to perfection to be able to overcome his rival in the back straight for the final time, and took his second win in the space of one week. The 25 points that go along with the win for Masia means he goes into the final three rounds with only 24 points to make up on the championship leader. 

Ayumu Sasaki was able to take his first podium in Moto3 with second place, beating compatriot Kaito Toba who finished third for his first podium since he won in Qatar last March. 

Behind the podium finishers, Arenas would have been frustrated to be denied victory just two turns from the finish, but ultimately his championship position was further entrenched and he leaves Aragon with a 19-point buffer over Ai Ogura whose poor form of the last month continues. 

Celestino Vietti was fifth, and fortunate that Arenas was denied the podium. As it is, Vietti’s disadvantage in the championship is just 20 points, which is far more agreeable for the Italian than if Arenas had stood on the box in Teruel. 

Behind Vietti, John McPhee was sixth, which is also where he now sits in the championship, 38 points away from Arenas. It is not impossible for McPhee, but 38 points with only three rounds to go is a tough mountain to climb for the #17. In Teruel, the Brit finished in front of Deniz Oncu in seventh, Darryn Binder in eighth, Ai Ogura back in ninth and Tony Arbolino who completed the top 10 on his comeback after missing the Grand Prix of Aragon last week due to Italy’s coronavirus restrictions. 

Alonso Lopez missed out on the top 10 by just 0.2 seconds despite a long lap at the start of the race for irresponsible rising during qualifying. The Spaniard was ahead of Raul Fernandez, Filip Salac, Gabriel Rodrigo and Jeremy Alcoba who took the final point in 15th. 

Missing out on points were Dennis Foggia, Carlos Tatay, Andrea Migno, Romano Fenati, Stefano Nepa who completed the top 20; while Barry Baltus was 21st from Niccolo Antonelli, Ryusei Yamanaka, Jason Dupasquier, Yuki Kunii, Davide Pizzoli, Khairul Idham Pawi and Maximilian Kofler who was the final classified rider in 28th. 

There were only two retirements, with Tatsuki Suzuki crashing out on the final lap, his riderless bike leaving Sergio Garcia nowhere to go, thus ending the Spaniard’s race a few seconds early as well.