Philipp Oettl fended off new championship leader Marco Bezzecchi to take his maiden Moto3 win, as Aron Canet wiped out title rival Jorge Martin in a chaotic Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez.
Poleman Martin grabbed the holeshot at the start ahead of Gresini team-mate Fabio Di Giannantonio in tow, while John McPhee caused chaos at Turn 2 as he collected Lorenzo Dalla Porta, who in turn connected with Dennis Foggia and Kazuki Masaki.
Martin held onto the lead until lap five, when Enea Bastianini moved ahead of him the Dry Sac corner.
Bezzecchi demoted Bastianini on the following tour, while Tony Arbolino – who started 21st – scythed his way past the Leopard rider and Oettl to snatch third.
In typical Moto3 fashion, the lead changed hands a number of times over the next 10 laps. With six to go, Martin retook the lead, with the top six beginning to break away from the rest of the pack.
Oettl and Bastianini pushed him back to third at Turn 1 on the following lap, with Bastianini taking the lead away from the German at the final corner.
On the run down to Dry Sac with four laps remaining, Oettl and Bezzecchi hit the front, while behind Canet crashed into Martin, with Bastianini and Arbolino getting caught up in the incident, which has been placed under investigation by Race Direction.
Oettl held the lead as he and Bezzecchi started the final lap, and repelled the Italian's advances into the final corner to take his maiden win in the class, with Bezzecchi taking over at the top of the championship by eight points after Martin's demise.
Alonso Lopez fought for the podium in the early stages, and had gotten himself back into contention in the closing stages after an early mistake saw him drop to 16th.
The Estrella Galicia 0,0 rider crossed the line third, but was forced to drop a place for exceeding track limits, promoting Marcos Ramirez to the podium to complete a KTM lock-out of the rostrum.
Jaume Masia took fifth behind Lopez, with Tatsuki Suzuki, Di Giannantonio, Jakub Korbfeil, Kaito Toba and Gabriel Rodrigo completing the top 10, with Niccolo Antonelli demoted to 11th for a similar infringement to Lopez.
The final points were claimed by Asyumu Sasaki, Andrea Migno – who was forced to start 18th after receiving a 12-place grid drop for dangerous riding in qualifying – Makar Yurchenko and Japanese wildcard Ai Oguro.
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