CFMOTO’s David Alonso didn’t let a long-lap penalty stop him from taking his seventh win of the Moto3 season, claiming victory at the Red Bull Ring in Austria.
The Moto3 Championship leader survived a sustained challenge from multiple riders having fallen to 10th after taking his penalty, showing he is truly the top dog in the Moto3 category.
Alonso was already the star candidate so far this season with six wins in 10 races coming into Austria.
The Colombian started from sixth and had a long-lap penalty looming over him for driving too slow during Qualifying on Saturday.
That meant MT Helmets rider Ivan Ortola, starting from pole, had an opportunity to eat into Alonso’s 53-point lead in the riders’ standings,
Also hoping to capitalise were BOE Motorsport’s Joel Kelso and Husqvarna’s Collin Veijer, who rounded out the front row.
But Ortola was nowhere to be seen on the grid, riding down pit lane as the field roared into life at lights out, with Kelso taking the holeshot from Tech3’s Daniel Holgado and Alonso.
Replays showed Ortola being escorted from his pole slot ahead of the warm-up lap, with a potential stall the likely cause for his trouble.
With the whole field roaring up the hill to Turn 3, Otorla exited the pits, way back from the nearest competitor with a long 20 laps ahead of him.
Meanwhile, an almighty scrap was ongoing for second as BOE’s David Munoz lunged at Alonso and Holgado at Turn 9.
Munoz then gave chase to his team-mate Kelso in the lead, with Alonso third and Holgado fourth.
On Lap 3, Alonso took his long-lap penalty, dropping down to 10th in the order.
Kelso, Munoz and Holgado were showing some steady pace, putting in an eight-tenth gap to the rest of the field on Lap 4.
Munoz was all over the back wheel of his team-mate and his reputation for scrappy racing meant he wouldn’t stand idle in second.
Fourth-placed Ajo KTM rider Jose Antonio Rueda was towing Veijer along on Lap 5, with the duo vying to catch the top three.
There was plenty of space behind Veijer, which led back to a large gaggle of riders that Alonso was fighting his way through.
By Lap 6, Alonso had made it to the front of that pack to claim sixth, as Veijer passed Rueda up ahead to claim fourth.
Time and time again in the opening laps, Munoz pulled out to have a look at Kelso into braking zones, but couldn’t get the move done, frustrating Holgado behind.
Ready to make some progress of his own, Holgado took second heading into Turn 1 at the start of Lap 7.
By Turn 9, Holgado was in the lead, but the shuffling about in the top three meant Veijer and Rueda had closed to within half a second of the leading trio on Lap 8.
Alonso meanwhile, had closed to within seven-tenths of the top five.
By Lap 10, Alonso had that gap down to five tenths as Munoz passed his team-mate Kelso for second at Turn 4.
Alonso was charging hard, towing Leopard’s Angel Piqueras with him and by Lap 10 the leading group had swelled to seven riders as the pack bunched up in true Moto3 fashion.
Lap 11, and over half race distance saw Holgado continuing to lead, Veijer up to second, Munoz third, Kelso fourth and Rueda, Alonso and Piqueras rounding out the top seven.
Just a few tenths back was Adrian Fernandez aboard the second Leopard machine, looking to make it a leading pack of eight as Veijer took the lead into Turn 9.
Munoz then followed Veijer to take second at Turn 1 on Lap 12, as Rueda barged Kelso out of the way, costing them both positions.
Holgado pounced on the pair to take third and as Lap 12 progressed, Piqueras moved himself up to fourth with moves on Alonso and Rueda.
The cork was out of the bottle and riders were putting moves on each other corner by corner as Lap 12 made way for Lap 13.
Scarps between Veijer and Holgado saw the former hold onto the lead and the latter fall to fifth, as Piqueras and Munoz found their way to second and third respectively.
But Munoz didn’t hold onto third for long with Alonso pipping him at Turn 4.
Alonso then swept through into second at Turn 9, poised to chase Veijer as the front pack came onto start Lap 14.
The championship leader had a look at Veijer into Turn 9, but the Dutchman held firm to bravely keep the lead.
A tough block pass by Holgado on Munoz for third Turn 4 on Lap 15 allowed room for Piqueras to pinch fourth as well.
Having failed to pass Veijer the lap before, Alonso took the lead at Turn 9.
Coming onto Lap 16, Munoz forced his way into second at Turn 1, with Piqueras and Holgado also getting through on Veijer, who found himself dropping from first to fifth in the space of a few corners.
Remarkably, the top five held formation for a lap, only for Piqueras to get out of shape at Turn 1 on the start of Lap 17, falling to fourth, then fifth as Veijer pounced up the hill en route to Turn 3.
With three laps remaining, Alonso led from Munoz and Holgado, with Veijer and Piqueras in fourth and fifth respectively as the top five had broken free from Fernandez, Rueda and Kelso.
One lap on and the top five order remained the same, but Piqueras changed that when he passed Veijer for fourth at Turn 3 with a lap and a half to go.
Coming onto the final lap, Alonso led from Munoz, who then ran deep into Turn 1 to allow Holgado and Piqueras through into second and third.
Veijer looked on as a spectator in fifth as Piqueras, Munoz and Holgado scrapped for second.
Holgado won that battle, aiming to challenge Alonso into Turns 9 and 10 but to no avail.
Alonso crossed the line to take his seventh win of the season, extending his championship lead to 71 points in the process as Munoz drafted passed Holgado to take second.
Piqueras took fourth with Veijer rounding out the top five.
2.7s down the road was sixth-placed Fernandez, heading Rueda and Kelso.
Ortola meanwhile, finished a remarkable ninth having had to start from pit-lane as Honda Team Asia’s Taiyo Furusato rounded out the top-10.
CIP’s Riccardo Rossi took 11th with Snipers’ Matteo Bertelle and Husqvarna’s Tatsuki Suzuki in 12th and 13th respectively.
Rounding out the points-paying positions were MT Helmets’ Ryusei Yamanaka and Tech3’s Jacob Roulstone.
