Aspar’s Sergio Garcia claimed his second victory of 2021 in the Moto3 CatalanGP after a last lap battle with Jeremy Alcoba.
The GasGas rider held on for victory in an intense lightweight class battle which saw the top-10 riders covered by just one-second across the line. Deniz Öncü completed the podium celebrations after Jaume Masia was demoted a place due to a track limits infringement in the closing stages. John McPhee devastated to crash out of the lead on lap 10.
A cloudy but humid Montmeló circuit greeted the Moto3 riders ahead of the 21-lap race after spots of rain fell earlier in the morning. McPhee led the way in Sunday’s warm up with Gabriel Rodrigo heading the grid for the first time since Styria last year, as the 27 riders lined up. There was early drama as Ricardo Rossi crashed on the warm up lap with the Italian relinquishing his 10th place start in the Barcelona gravel.
As the lights released the pack, Rodrigo maintained control into the first corner. Niccolò Antonelli advanced to second as Alcoba dropped to third with McPhee on a charge as he moved through to fourth. His Petronas teammate was quick to emulate as Darryn Binder pushed his way through to fifth before the main straight slipstream shuffled the standings. Izan Guevara swept through to lead from Antonelli, Binder and McPhee as the Argentinian dropped to fifth, Alcoba, Masia, Öncü, Garcia and Ayumu Sasaki rounding out the top-10 as the second lap got going.
Binder took control on the next revolution with McPhee holding tight for third before joining him for an SRT one-two half a lap later. The Scot was out front as the fourth cycle began but Garcia was quick to challenge, the two swapping positions as the lap played out with McPhee making his way back through in the closing sector.
A pair of Gresini’s sat behind the Petronas rider as lap five unfolded, Binder splitting the duo as he made a move on Alcoba with Garcia following him through moments later. McPhee attempted to keep himself out of the drama as the remaining top-five battled for position behind before a moment almost derailed his progress. Rodrigo returned to the front as lap seven began, Binder holding on for second as McPhee now dropped to fifth.
The slipstream shuffle continued down the straight as the next lap got underway, Alcoba the victor this time round from Garcia, Rodrigo and McPhee, Guevara and Binder sitting on the edge of the top-six as the second group bunched up to join the fun.
McPhee was back in command with 13 to go and two-seconds covering the entire top-14, the positions flickering as soon as they were registered.
Disaster struck on the next lap as the Scot suffered a massive highside, his Honda sliding back into the path of the oncoming train with Tatsuki Suzuki and Andrea Migno the unlucky recipients of the aftermath.
Back at the front, the action continued with Garcia now leading the way. Binder sat second before briefly taking control, Öncü and Romano Fenati sliding in to take over as the race hit 10 to go.
The Turk retained the front for the next few corners before the Gresini riders appeared once again, Alcoba now battling Pedro Acosta - from 25th on the grid - and Öncü for the top-three honours. There was almost contact at the end of the straight as riders looked to either capitalise from or deny the slipstream advantage, with Alcoba holding on.
Öncü was back out front with seven to go, from Rodrigo and Acosta, Kaito Toba joining for podium contention as the group continued to battle and the championship leader rose to the top.
With five laps to go it was still anyone’s race as the top-15 continued to shuffle, 1.4 seconds covering the lot with over 10-seconds separating them from Yuki Kunii behind.
Binder was back out front as lap 18 began, the Petronas machine immediately being swallowed up in to the first corner as he instantly found himself in seventh. Rodrigo, Garcia and Acosta taking over the top-three from a tightly packed Alcoba, Toba and Guevara.
The penultimate lap saw Alcoba take charge from Acosta as Binder returned to the final podium place in his usual forthright style, Garcia holding on for fourth from Toba and Öncü as Rodrigo was demoted to seventh. Another shuffle found the entire group bunched together in the last corner as no one wanted to lead down the straight, the race getting tighter and tighter as the final lap played out, Garcia leading in the final sector as Guevara crashed out at turn 10.
Alcoba looked to challenge as the flag came into view, Garcia holding tight across the line to take the victory. Disaster, however, saw a turn eight incident bring out the red flags as a highside for Sasaki collected the Leopard duo of Dennis Foggia, Xavier Artigas.
Garcia claimed his second win of the season from Alcoba and an emotional Öncü, Masia being denied the podium due to exceeding track limits in the final lap. Binder took fifth from pole-sitter Rodrigo with Acosta, Antonelli, Toba and Stefano Nepa completing the top-10. Fenati came home in 11th with Kunii, Daniel Holgado, Elia Bartolini and Ryusei Yamanaka collecting the remaining points thanks to the last lap crash, Lorenzo Fellon and Andi Farid Izdihar concluding the finishers.
