Immaculate Aron Canet (Sterilgarda Max Racing Team) swung the 2019 Moto3 World Championship pendulum in his favour with a lights-to-flag victory at MotorLand Aragon, in the process gaining a mammoth twenty points on series leader Lorenzo Dalla Porta (Leopard Racing).
Spaniard Canet had dominated qualifying by a seven tenths of a second margin and showed similar speed on raceday, impressively managing to break from the pack on lap six. From there he gradually pulled out a four and a half second gap to the rest of the field, the largest advantage seen at the chequered flag so far this season.
Ai Ogura had a far tougher task defending his second position grid slot, the 18-year-old from Japan dropping back as far as sixth at one stage before scrapping back through to head the chasing peleton. The Honda Team Asia rider held second for ten of the last fifteen laps but Dennis Foggia, impressive from eleventh on the grid, was determined to make the place his own with an aggressive turn four move on the final lap. Ogura kept his cool in the slipstream down the backstraight to cut back through down the inside into turn sixteen, a move that secured him a first World Championship podium
17-year-old Alonso Lopez (Estrella Galicia 0,0), looking for his first top-three finish, was determined throughout the race: fighting his way through quickly from sixth to second on the opening lap and even leading briefly on lap two. But he found himself boxed in on the final turn whilst attempting to follow Ogura past Foggia, missed the apex and was relegated to fifth behind John McPhee (Estrella Galicia 0,0).
Four of the top five in the Championship coming into Aragón missed out on major points. British Grand Prix winner Marcos Ramirez (Leopard Racing) suffered a turn five fall and suffered his fifth scoreless ride of the campaign; he and Niccolo Antonelli have now both been passed by John McPhee in the Standings overall.
Meanwhile Italians Lorenzo Dalla Porta and Tony Arbolino (VNE Snipers) found themselves scrapping it out for just tenth. Dalla Porta started just twelfth, dropped to fifteenth on lap one, and even found himself outside of the points altogether at one stage before salvaging a place in the lead group. Arbolino took tenth after Dalla Porta was penalised for a track limits violation on the final lap, reducing his now-slender series lead down by another point to just two.
Moto3 has already provided ten different winners this season, so with five Rounds remaining there could well be more twists in store for the Championship contenders even if two riders have emerged clear of the pack overall.
Top 10:
1. Aron Canet (Sterilgarda Max Racing Team)
2. Ai Ogura (Honda Team Asia) + 4.581
3. Dennis Foggia (SKY Racing Team VR46) + 4.663
4. John McPhee (Petronas Sprinta Racing) + 4.729
5. Alonso Lopez (Estrella Galicia 0,0) + 4.842
6. Tatsuki Suzuki (SIC58 Squadra Corse) + 4.947
7. Sergio Garcia (Estrella Galicia 0,0) + 5.085
8. Albert Arenas (Gaviota Angel Nieto Team) + 5.483
9. Gabriel Rodrigo (Kömmerling Gresini Moto3) + 5.773
10. Tony Arbolino (VNE Snipers) + 8.812