MotoMatters.com | Kropotkin Thinks

Sunshine made a comeback for the final lightweight race of the season, and it was only fitting for David Alonso’s Moto3 graduation, featuring his 14^th victory of the year and a new all-time record for most wins in a single season in any class. And a graduate cap, of course. Much like in the championship standings, Dani Holgado finished second in Barcelona, although with a much smaller gap of only a tenth of a second, while Angel Piqueras ends his rookie season with a third-place trophy – courtesy of a last-lap mistake from his teammate. 

Alonso was the main character from the very beginning, keeping the lead from pole position, while Ivan Ortola and Holgado demoted front row starter Collin Veijer early on. A fast-starting David Muñoz went from 12^th on the grid to 6^th halfway through the opening lap and further demoted Veijer from 4^th by the end of that lap. The Dutchman then got caught out by both Leopard Racing riders at the start of the second lap, dropping to 7^th position. Taiyo Furusato, Jacob Roulstone and Joel Kelso completed the early top 10, while Luca Lunetta got off to a sluggish start from the back of the second row and dropped to 11^th position, before getting a double long lap penalty for causing an incident with Stefano Nepa early on. 

The first challenge to Alonso came at the start of lap 3, when the poleman dropped to 4^th after a slipstream allowed Holgado, Muñoz and Adrian Fernandez to get past. He was soon under fire from Ortola as well, who had also lost some ground in early exchanges with Muñoz and Fernandez. Lap 4 brought Fernandez a brief foray into the lead, but Holgado managed to hold on into turn 1 and kept Fernandez, Muñoz and Ortola behind him, while Piqueras demoted Alonso out of the top 5. The start of lap 5 demoted the world champion further, dropping him behind Kelso and Roulstone and in familiar company from Veijer, who had been lingering towards the bottom of the top 10. Furusato completed that top 10 but the top 18 riders were still within reach of each other. 

Holgado and Fernandez continued to trade top spot over the next few laps, with Fernandez leading on lap 6 and Holgado back ahead on lap 8, while Alonso started posting fastest laps and mount a bit of a recovery from 7^th position. Initially, it was a pretty slow one, but he then found himself back into the top 3, helped by contact between Ortola and Muñoz on lap 10. Next time around turn 1, Alonso was briefly up to second, but Holgado wasn’t too keen on that and immediately retaliated, the exchange allowing Fernandez a bit of breathing room at the front. Alonso settled the score at the start of the next lap and was then helped by Muñoz getting into the mix at turn 5. Despite a track limits warning, Ortola also looked interested in rejoining the party at the front, getting back into the top 5, while Veijer seemed to be out of contention for second in championship, as he was down in 9^th position – although still within the 12-man leading group.

Fernandez held onto the lead until the final five laps, when Alonso made his move in the slipstream on the start-finish straight, leaving Fernandez and Holgado fighting about who to lead the pursuit. Although Alonso went on to set the fastest lap of the race, he couldn’t quite shake off the pursuit and got swallowed up into turn 1 with three laps remaining, getting pushed down to 5^th, behind Fernandez, Muñoz, Holgado and Ortola. The world champion wasn’t discouraged in the slightest, making quick work of Ortola at turn 14 and sliding past Muñoz into turn 2 to rejoin the podium positions on the penultimate lap. 

Turn 10 saw the poleman get back into the lead and although that was a risky position going into the final lap, he managed to avoid any slipstream damage and stayed ahead into turn 1. Fernandez was so keen to respond that he ran off track at turn 2, leaving Holgado to chase down Alonso, but despite a fastest lap for the Spaniard, he couldn’t get close enough to attack and the world champion cruised to victory number 14 of the season. Holgado’s second place was enough for second in the world championship, although with a chasm of 165 points to the world champion. 

Although Fernandez crossed the finish line third, we received a 3-second penalty for taking the shortcut at turn 2, which handed the final podium position to teammate Piqueras, who resisted an aggressive challenge from Muñoz on the final lap. Although having started 17th, Jose Antonio Rueda climbed into 4^th in the chaos of the final laps, while Yamanaka inherited 5^th after Muñoz got demoted one position for a questionable last lap move on the Japanese rider. Furusato and Roulstone further demoted Ortola in the closing stages, and the Spaniard finished only one place ahead of Veijer, who secures a ticket to tonight’s gala, as third in the world championship. 

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