Jaume Masia flew past Albert Arenas on the run to the final corner to snatch victory and claim his second Aragon Moto3 win just seven days after his first.
Masia kept himself well out of trouble during the opening phase of the lightweight contest, rolling around solidly within the top ten as championship leader Arenas elected to spend his time out in front.
The Leopard Racing man knew exactly when to strike though, and emerged from the pack with just a few tours remaining, giving his Honda Moto3 machine a breath of fresh air as he pushed for a second consecutive win at the Motorland Aragon venue.
Arenas though was keen to extend his points advantage with victory, while Tech 3’s Ayumu Sasaki lurked just behind with designs in a maiden Moto3 success.
Despite Arenas having led the most laps, Masia knew when leading counted most, the Spaniard drafting past the leading Aspar machine heading towards the final bend for the last time, thus leaving Arenas vulnerable to his challengers behind.
Masia was clear however, flying across the line to take victory by just 0.051 ahead of Sasaki as the Japanese racer claimed a first ever Moto3 rostrum.
Kaito Toba capped off a much improved weekend with his KTM Ajo outfit to complete the podium positions, Arenas once again denied just as he was seven days ago in fourth less than three-tenths from victory.
Title rival Celestino Vietti only lost a couple of points to Arenas as he took the chequered flag fifth right on his rear wheel, while John McPhee recovered from 17th to sixth by the end.
Deniz Oncu completed a strong day for Tech 3 with seventh ahead of CIP Green Power’s Darryn Binder, while Ai Ogura had a slightly more positive day compared to his previous few events in ninth.
Tony Arbolino completed the top ten despite having missed last weekend’s Aragon Grand Prix after having to self isolate due to Covid-19 concerns.
Pole-man Raul Fernandez had a torrid day meanwhile, having dropped back to the lower-reaches of the top ten in the early stages.
He held the lead off the line initially and battled for the leadership across the early tours, but dropped to tenth after around a quarters-distance, though found himself unable to recover from this point on despite being the man to beat all weekend.
The KTM Ajo pilot ultimately came home a disappointing 12th behind Alonso Lopez-who had to take a long-lap penalty early on due to being penalised for displaying unsportsman-like behaviour during Saturday’s qualifying session.
Arenas’ title advantage now rises to 19 over Ogura with just three contests remaining in 2020, while Vietti’s fifth position leaves him 20 points from the top of the tree in third overall.
