Estrella Galicia’s Aron Canet has taken his first-ever Moto3 win at the Jerez MotoGP round, going from third to first into the last corner on the last lap and holding a 0.031s advantage over Romano Fenati in second with championship leader Joan Mir in third.
In a race that began with some bad tempered exchanged, including one from Darryn Binder on Canet which forced him off track, there were nine riders in with a shout of victory with Marcos Ramirez, Fabio Di Giannantonio, Andrea Migno, Nico Bulega, Enea Bastiannini and poleman Jorge Martin in the mix.
Mir had to come from ninth on the grid but soon joined the leading group while Martin, who ran with a harder rear tyre, never looked like challenging while Bastiannini and Bulega were busy holding each other up and eventually ended more than a second behind the leader.
Ramirez looked like he was capable of a podium spot but just lost out to his more experienced competition but ended only two-tenths off the podium. Mir had a chance to take victory but a huge moment at turn 12 saw Fenati pass for the lead. But the Italian left the door wide open into turn 14 and Canet needed no further invitation.
“This is the best gift I could give on Mother’s Day (in Spain). It was a very difficult race, because when I tried to move up to the front positions, other riders wouldn’t let me. At other Grands Prix I had found it a little hard to overtake, but today it wasn’t difficult for me to brake late and I did it just like my rivals. I decided to try it at the end of the race, sticking close to third place in order to make a move on the last corner. I did that and was able to win the race, so I can finally say that I like the Circuito de Jerez,” said Canet.
It was a tough race for Britain’s John McPhee who started from 25th after a crash in qualifying and another in morning warm-up. The British Talent Team rider made his way through to 12th place but was scrapping with Bo Bendsneyder and lost the leading group. Eventually, the Briton went down at turn one with nine laps left.
