Marco Bezzecchi delivers a flawless performance to claim his maiden win in a damp Argentina as Jorge Martin’s last minute decision costs him dearly.
The unsettled weather once again added additional drama to the already exciting series with crashes left, right and centre, but the drama began before the first lap was underway as Jorge Martin made a last-minute decision to change onto slicks at the end of the warm up lap. The decision, one which his team (DelConca Gresini) insisted was his own, cost him dearly as he began from the pitlane instead of his 9th place qualifying position.
A poor start from pole man Tony Arbolino dropped him back to 19th position, allowing Bezzecchi, Enea Bastianini and Gabriel Rodrigo through. An unwell Tatsuki Suzuki suffered a crash during the first lap at turn eight but was fortunately able to remount. The next victim of the damp conditions was rookie Makar Yurchenko as he went down at turn five during the second lap but also was able to remount. Bezzecchi continued to lead the pack into lap two, extending his lead from local boy Rodrigo by 2.1 seconds.
As Bezzecchi soared off into the distance up front, battles further down the grid were hotting up. The 12th place battle saw Albert Arenas make contact with the rear wheel of Darryn Binder before moving into the path of John McPhee, unfortunately McPhee’s move to prevent a crash caused him to run wide and drop back.
Nicolo Bulega’s weekend saw no improvement as he retired from the race with only five laps remaining due to technical issues with the bike but he wasn’t the only one to suffer a weekend of trouble. Binder’s woeful weekend also continued as he was blindsided by an overly optimistic Kaito Toba at turn five, thankfully he was able to remount and continue. Arenas gave his healing collarbone another knock with a crash at turn 13 whilst fighting with McPhee but was able to remount without any signs of injury.
Denis Foggia was left devastated after crashing out at turn five. The youngster was running in an outstanding 7th until then with only three laps remaining. The biggest loser of the weekend was Jaume Masia as, with only two laps remaining, he crashed out from fourth whilst fighting with Fabio Di Gianntonio for the third position. The young Spaniard went into turn five very hot and ended up tangling with an unsuspecting Di Gianntonio.
A faultless performance from Bezzecchi clinched his first win in Moto3, and he was obviously ecstatic about his win as, when asked about the race, he was quoted as saying ‘(I’ve) already forgotten everything. (I’m) so, so happy.’ Canet’s second place took him to the top of the World Championship standings, displacing Martin. Post race, Canet described the race as ‘difficult’, a term that was thrown around by many riders this weekend. Third place Di Gianntonio was pleased with his result and his efforts, telling the press post race if he had ‘pushed Canet more, (he) would have crashed’.
Full race results here.
Championship standings here.
With an unusual and eventful race 2 due to both weather and fiery moves, the competition can only get hotter as we move onto the Grand Prix of the Americas.
Will Canet hold onto his world championship lead or will Martin make a comeback?
