Tatsuki Suzuki flew to a third career Moto3 win in Argentina by over seven seconds in what turned out to be an attritional wet weather-affected contest.
The Leopard Racing rider made a strong start from sixth on the grid to move into second in the early reaches of the race, with the ever-aggressive Deniz Oncu snatching the lead from Diogo Moreira at the conclusion of the opening tour.
Suzuki gave chase having passed the Brazilian himself, though his job was made all the easier after Oncu made a mistake and dropped his Ajo-run KTM at Turn 11 only a couple laps later, leaving Suzuki with over a seconds lead to team-mate Jaume Masia.
The Japanese ace continued to extend his lead as the race progressed and the competition behind tussled, his advantage standing at over four seconds at the mid-point of the race before eventually crafting a gap of over seven seconds.
He backed off in the closing laps to safeguard his victory, taking the chequered flag 4.5 seconds clear of Moreira, who managed to survive some chaotic final tours to secure a first lightweight class rostrum result ahead of Andrea Migno, who charged up through the field across the closing stanza.
Scott Ogden crossed the line in a best-ever fourth, though the Briton was soon given a five-second penalty for taking out impressive rookie David Almansa – who was taking part in his first ever Moto3 world championship event as a stand-in for the injured Joel Kelso at CFMoto – at Turn 11 on the final tour.
Ogden’s punishment promoted Ivan Ortola to fourth, while Stefano Nepa took sixth just ahead of Kaito Toba in what was an ultra-close battle for the spot.
Xavier Artigas claimed eighth despite having crashed late on after fighting for the rostrum positions in the early part of the race, the Spaniard heading Ryusei Yamanaka and David Salvador to complete the top ten.
Masia lost what looked to be a comfortable podium after crashing just after the mid-point of the encounter, while pole-man Ayumu Sasaki also failed to finish after going down at the final bend while also running in the runners-up spot shortly after Masia’s mishap.
Other top-ten runners to fall foul of the wet conditions late on were David Munoz – who went down with Artigas just a few laps from the end – as well as Riccardo Rossi, who lost out on a strong fourth-place finish after losing the front of his SIC58-run Honda on entry to the second-to-last corner on the very final lap.
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