It was a clean start to the second round of the Moto3 season after the riders lined up on the grid ahead of the Gran Motul de la Republica Argentina. Track conditions were dry after showers hit at the end of Qualifying, with the air temperature measuring 19 degrees Celsius. Scottish rider, John McPhee was on pole with the new British Talent Team and prior to the race, he was quickest during the morning warm-up session.
Slight delay at the start as they waited on the grid
The 250cc class assembled on the grid, and appeared to be held for a little by Marshalls, until the race finally got underway. Jorge Martin (Del Conca Gresini Moto3) led on his Honda heading into turn one and was closely followed by pole position man, McPhee.
All 32 riders made it through the opening corners as they began to settle in their positions, the long snake of four stroke engines passed through the twists and turns at the Termos de Rio Hondo without incident. In true Moto3 fashion though, those positions were not going to remain the same, the battles had begun, and in 21 laps time there was no telling where they would all end up.
McPhee took the lead from Martin
A few corners into the race McPhee was able to take the lead for the first time after he passed Martin. His lead was brief as Martin and Fabio Di Giannantonio (Del Conca Gresini Moto3) soon made their way past him, but McPhee retaliated, recovering one position in the process. Martin led, but then went wide almost allowing McPhee and Di Giannantonio through, but the Spaniard was able to hold on and stayed defensive as they continued down the start-finish straight.
Martin leads at the end of the first lap
Martin led as they crossed the line to end the opening lap, but by the time they got to the end of the main straight for the second time, McPhee had made his way back to the front; Martin had to settle for second. Further down the field, Joan Mir (Leopard Racing) was in eighth, and nearly came into contact with another rider as he challenged for ninth position. There was no road ahead of him when he made his pass.
Incident involving Fenati and Antonelli
Then, an incident occurred on track that saw Romano Fenati (Marinelli Rivacold Snipers) drop down to 18th and caused Niccolo Antonelli (Red Bull KTM Ajo) to go down. Fenati worked to recover the positions lost during the incident as he was able to continue after the disruption, but Antonelli was forced to retire after Marshalls recovered his bike. The incident became under investigation with race control but it was later announced that no further action would be taken between the two.
Meanwhile, closer to the front, Nicolo Bulega (Sky Racing Team VR46) brought himself into the mix as he challenged Aron Canet (Estrella Galicia 0,0) for positions on track. As they crossed the line however to start the third lap, Canet was able to shoot to the front after using the slipstream from a three bike tow to progress. It was three a breast into turn one as Bulega, Di Giannantonio and McPhee battled to stay near the front.
Further round the lap, Martin was able to bypass Canet to retake the lead. Crossing the line to start lap four, he was able to retain his lead ahead of Canet, and McPhee, Di Giannantonio, Bulega and Philipp Oettl (Sudmetall Schedl GP Racing) invited himself to the party. Di Giannantonio was soon able to bypass McPhee as ahead of him, Canet was on Martin’s tail. McPhee them became victim to Bulega who passed him and Di Giannantonio to place himself in third.
Rookie sets the fastest lap of the race so far
Rookie Tony Arbolino (SIC58 Squadra Corse) set the fastest lap of the race so far by the end of lap four, as Antonelli did retire, Mir moved up to 10th and McPhee passed Canet to claim second.
Martin led with 17 laps remaining ahead of McPhee, Canet, Bulega, Oettl, Di Giannantonio, Andrea Migno (Sky Racing Team VR46), Gabriel Rodrigo (ROE RBA Racing Team), Enea Bastianini (Estrella Galicia 0,0) and Mir was down in 10th. Fenati had also made his way up to 14th on the track, recovering four places so far following the incident that sent him backwards earlier on.
Oettl soon made his way up to fourth and then went on to take the lead a few corners later, until he was passed by Martin and Canet, but then he was able to recover one position and was in second. As they began the fifth lap, Bulega moved up to fourth and Mir progressed three places up to seventh.
Canet takes over at the front of the pack
As they got to the end of the main straight, Canet was able to regain his place at the front. Oettl almost accidentally pushed Martin off as they opted for the same line on track. McPhee was using a wider line to try and bypass Canet to gain the lead. Mir forced Bulega out of the way to take fifth and the Spaniard soon found himself in third as ahead, Oettl took his place at the front.
As they began the sixth lap, Mir was able to progress up to second and by the end of the main straight had took the lead for the first time in the race; brilliant considering he was down in 10th. McPhee slipped into second but he was then forced offline by Di Giannantonio and McPhee regained his momentum when he slotted back in in fifth; the Italian apologised knowing he was in the wrong.
Canet looked to benefit from a manoeuvre up the inside of McPhee heading into a right hand corner and was able to pass McPhee to take second. Oettl in fourth, pushed Di Giannantonio out wide so Martin was able to benefit and move up to third passing McPhee too. Positions kept changing however as Rodrigo passed Binder McPhee went head to head with Mir for the lead and won on a right-handed corner. Mir out-braked him later on in the lap as Oettl tried to make his way around the outside of McPhee.
Constant changing at the front
McPhee chose to use the slipstream of Oettl to retaliate with 12 laps remaining to regain second from the German rider, and then went on to almost out-brake Mir in the lead. Martin was on the move though and gained a position from Oettl to take third before passing McPhee to take second.
Mir crossed the line to symbolise 11 laps remaining in the lead ahead of McPhee and Martin who then lost a position to Oettl, but not for long. Binder also found himself in fifth on his KTM, as further down field Bastianini was up to ninth. Mir, who had begun to break away slightly, was caught by the rest of the pack that followed.
Injured Rodrigo crashes out with 10 laps to go
With 10 laps remaining, injured rider Gabriel Rodrigo (RBA ROE Racing Team), who had broken his collarbone in Qatar and had to have it operated on, crashed at turn two of the track. He tucked the front of his KTM and slid out. Fortunately he appeared unhurt and as if he had not done further damage or picked up more injuries in the incident.
Martin had managed to make his way back up to second behind Mir and the two appeared as though they were beginning to break away from the riders that followed. But this did not last long as they were soon caught, with McPhee leading the way.
Bulega forces Di Giannantonio off at turn five
Unfortunately for Di Giannantonio he was nudged by Bulega on the entry to a turn which caused him to lose control and he went down at turn five; the incident was investigated by race control. Although unhurt, he was forced to retire early with nine laps remaining.
Bastianini came off at the same turn, possibly distracted by what occurred in front of him, as he ended up following a wide line and slid out. He was able to return to the action by was way off the pace. Lorenzo Dalla Porta (Aspar Mahindra Moto3) also was forced to retire from the race early with a technical fault.
Group of five manage to break away from the rest of the pack
Back at the front, a group of five had formed as they broke away from the rest. Mir led Martin, McPhee, Oettl and Migno. The battle for sixth continued behind them in a group led by Livio Loi (Leopard Racing). Binder, Tatsuki Suzuki (SIC58 Squadra Corse), Fenati, and Canet were constantly switching positions, determined to get near the front.
With seven laps to go, McPhee tucked in behind Mir on the main straight using the slipstream to tow him along. He planned to overtake heading into turn five but Mir out-braked the Scot. Mir then ran wide and ended up dropping to fourth on the track. He recovered two positions soon after as he passed Martin and Oettl, Migno then passed Martin pushing him down to fifth.
When they came to the main straight on the next lap, Oettl this time made an attempt to take the lead as he stayed wide in an attempt to get to the front. He went second, as Mir returned to the front instead meaning McPhee dropped down to third. The Scot then lost another position to Martin who pushed him down to fourth. McPhee soon recovered some positions making his way back up to second.
Battle for sixth continues on behind the leaders
The battle for sixth continued behind them as Fenati was able to pass Loi and Suzuki heading into turn one of the 18th lap. He had already made an extraordinary achievement recovering from 18th, and news then came through that there was to be no further action regarding his earlier incident.
Just four laps remained and the fight for the top spot continued at the front of the field. Martin made a move up the inside of Migno and came into contact with the Italian which forced him wide. Martin waved to apologise to the Italian. The incident meant that Mir, Oettl and McPhee were able to break away ever so slightly.
Three-a-breast heading into turn one
After they crossed the start-finish line to commence the 21st lap, it was three-a-breast heading into turn one with Mir emerging successful. They all were taking alternative lines and the constant battling meant that Martin was able to catch up and again found himself in third; Migno was unable to return to the previous momentum he had and struggled to keep up.
As they began the penultimate lap, Oettl looked to take the lead heading into turn one but once again Mir was able to out-brake his contender and remained in front. McPhee instead took second briefly from Oettl which allowed Mir to break away slightly to confirm his lad. He continued, and had built up almost half a second’s worth of a gap as behind him McPhee managed to secure second.
McPhee determined to secure first win with new team
Determined to get his first win with his new team, he caught up to Mir on the last lap. With just three corners remaining, the Spaniard when wide but McPhee was unable to benefit. Mir went on to win his second back-to-back race as he crossed the finish line claiming another 25 championship points; he leads the championship on 50 points after two rounds.
Frustratingly for McPhee, he had to settle for second once again and collected another 20 championship points; he is second after two rounds with 40 points, 10 behind leader Mir. Martin finished the race in third completing the podium and collecting 16 points once again which means he in turn remains third in the championship with 32 points.
Oettl has to settle for fourth in Argentina
Oettl just missed out on the podium finishing the Gran Premio Motul de la Republica Argentina in fourth ahead of Migno in fifth. Loi was sixth ahead of Fenati who finished a fantastic seventh recovering from 18th; the Italian set the fastest lap time during the race on lap five with a time of 1:49.415 which was around half a second off the Circuit Lap Record. Suzuki, Guevara and rookie Kaito Toba (Honda Team Asia) completed the top 10 on his second race in the class.
Canet had to settle for 11th ahead of Binder in 12th. Marcos Ramirez (Platinum Bay Real Estate) was 13th ahead of Arbolino in 14th and the only female rider in the pack, Maria Herrera (AGR Team) collected the last championship point available in Argentina when she finished the race in 15th.
Bulega finished outside of the points
Just outside the points, Bulega finished in 16th after dropping backwards through the ranks. Adam Norrodin (SIC Racing Team) was 17th ahead of Jakub Kornfeil (Peugeot MC Saxoprint) as the highest placed Mahindra in 18th. Rookies Marco Bezzechi (CIP), Ayumu Sasaki (SIC Racing Team) and Manuel Pagliani (CIP) followed on ahead of Jules Danilo (Marinelli Rivacold Snipers), Bo Bendsneyder (Red Bull KTM Ajo), rookie Nakarin Atiratphuvapat (Honda Team Asia) and Albert Arenas (Aspar Mahindra Moto3) completed the top 25. Rookie Patrik Pulkkinen (Peugeot MC Saxoprint) and Bastianini completed the list of finishers in 27th.
The championship after two rounds is led by Mir, McPhee and Martin after their back-to-back podiums. Migno is fourth ahead of Fenati, Canet, Loi, Oettl, Ramirez and Antonelli who completes the top 10.