Arenas fends off McPhee for Qatar Moto3 victory
Albert Arenas has produced the perfect last lap to clinch victory ahead of John McPhee at the 2020 Moto3 world championship opener in Qatar.
In a typically hectic Moto3 tussle, at the start of the final lap the action erupted with Darryn Binder colliding with Tony Arbolino in the braking area for the first corner which sent the CIP Green Power rider down.
The scuffle spread out the lead group and allowed Arenas to lead McPhee in a breakaway. The Scottish rider resisted a dive for the lead before the final corner aiming to steal the win in the drive to the finish line, but Arenas was wise to his plan and crafted a gap to break the tow for McPhee and charged to the win for Aspar.
Arenas duly delivers KTM’s 100th Grand Prix victory and the Austrian brand’s first Moto3 win at the Losail International Circuit since 2014.
With McPhee having to settle for second for Petronas Sprinta Racing, further drama developed behind the top two when Jaume Masia was penalised for exceeding track limits at Turn 6 on the final lap, meaning the Leopard Racing rider was demoted from the final podium place with Ai Ogura promoted to third place for Honda Team Asia.
With Masia in fourth, the penalties for track limits continued to shake up the final classification as Gabriel Rodrigo, Arbolino, Raul Fernandez and Jeremy Alcoba all dropped one position.
The penalties put pole-sitter Tatsuki Suzuki into fifth place for SIC58 Squadra Corse ahead of Rodrigo on the Kommerling Gresini with team-mate Alcoba in seventh place.
Filip Salac grabbed eighth place for Rivacold Snipers Team ahead of Dennis Foggia on the Leopard Racing as Raul Fernandez struggled late on dropping down to 10th place for Red Bull KTM Ajo.
Sergio Garcia also faded in the closing stages with 11th place on the Estrella Galicia 0,0 bike, while Deniz Oncu put in a solid performance for 12th place for Red Bull KTM Tech3.
Alonso Lopez (Sterilgarda Max Racing Husqvarna), Kaito Toba (Red Bull KTM Ajo) and Arbolino (Rivacold Snipers Team) rounded out the points places.
