Moto3 Austria: Arenas leaves it late for victory
Albert Arenas took victory in a dramatic, action packed Moto3 Grand Prix of Austria.
The Valresa Aspar rider had attempted an early breakaway at Spielberg but in an incredibly close, frantic race is was not on the cards.
With a track limits warning on his dashboard the KTM rider sat in the lead group and left it to the penultimate corner to make his final lunge for the lead, going up the inside of Jaume Masia.
Riding through foot pain following his crash earlier in the season in Jerez, his performance brings Arenas his third win of the season. He remains championship leader with a total of 95 points.
Masia tried to get his Honda into a slipsteam in the run to the line after leading at the start of the final lap.
The Leopard rider could not quite match the win of his teammate Dennis Foggia in Brno but was happy to return to the podium ar the Red Bull Ring in second, just 0.049s behind the winner. Foggia was 21st.
The final podium spot was decided by penatlies post-race after several riders exceeded track limits on the final lap.
Ai Ogura had crossed the line fourth just ahead of Darryn Binder and Celestino Vietti but the trio were all handed a one place demotion.
That elevated a surprised John McPhee to third for Petronas Sprinta Racing after taking the chequered flag sixth.
After penalties Ogura was fourth for Honda Team Asia, he was lucky not to come off on the first lap after being pushed wide by Deniz Oncu.
Binder was frantic on his way to fifth for CIP Green Power after qualifying down in 22nd, while Vietti had been one of many leaders of the race over the 23 laps before being moved back to sixth for Sky Racing VR46.
Tony Arbolino crossed the line in seventh for Rivacold Snipers after pulling out a small gap on the last lap over Oncu, who despite being another of the races many leaders, had to settle for eighth for Red Bull KTM Tech 3. The Turkish rider was the best of the rookie racers.
Polesitter Raul Fernandez was next to take the chequered flag for Red Bull KTM Ajo, holding off Tatsuki Suzuki who completed the top ten for SIC58 Squadra Corse.
There were more demotions for track limits effecting the remaining points places with Andrea Migno promoted to eleventh on the second Sky bike after Niccolo Antonelli, who had fought back into the top fifteen for SIC58 Squadrs Corse, was demoted one place to twelfth.
Gabriel Rodrigo (Kommerling Gresini) kept his 13th place finish, but his teammate Jeremy Alcoba was made to swap places with Ayumu Sasaki (Red Bull KTM Tech 3) , leaving him 15th.
Sasaki had worked his way up to lead the race before being handed a long lap penalty dropping him to 21st so 14th marks a good recovery in the closing laps.
2019 race winner Romano Fenati had to come from the back row of the grid after a difficult qualifying which culminated in his best lap being cancelled. He finished the race in 18th.
Maximilian Kofler was 25th in his home grand prix for CIP Green Power.
Barry Baltus was the first to exit the race, falling on lap seven, with Filip Salac the only other rider to crash out.
Khairul Idham Pawi was withdrawn before the race as riding with the pain from his fractured finger proved too much.
