Jose Antonio Rueda fended off Collin Veijer en route to win at the Aragon Grand Prix, the 12th round in the 2024 Moto3 schedule.
In charging form, the Spaniard secured his first win of the season after starting in second position and conquered a thrilling race.
Pole-sitter David Alonso quickly established a comfortable lead as the lights went out, as Joel Kelso climbed up to second position after starting fifth.
It was a different story for David Munoz, who fell down the order to P13 after starting in third for the Red Bull KTM Ajo team.
Unfortunately for Kelso, the rider’s charge to second-place was short-lived as he resided back in sixth.
In fact, the top-five places were hotly contested during the race’s opening laps, besides Alonso’s gap over the charging field behind him.
This was until with seven laps to go, Alonso was chased down by Veijer who was setting quicker lap times than the CFMOTO Aspar rider.
On the next lap, Veijer made his move and took the lead from Alonso, who was shortly overtaken by Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Rueda.
It seemed that Alonso could not keep up his form in the closing stages despite his strong start and seemingly good gap over second place, as his seventh race victory of the year gradually slipped away.
Meanwhile at the front, Rueda duelled Veijer before taking the lead as the pair edged away from the riders behind.
At the end of the 35-minute race, Rueda claimed victory for KTM Ajo ahead of Veijer of the Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP squad.
Third position was taken by Luca Lunetta who climbed three places from his starting spot in sixth, followed by Alonso in fourth.
Kelso took fifth place for BOE Motorsports, as Taiyo Furusato claimed seventh place for Honda Team Asia.
Eighth spot was landed by Rueda’s teammate, Xabi Zurutuza.
Daniel Holgado finished in ninth place as Matteo Bertelle rounded out the top-10 finishers.
| Position | Rider | Number | Team | Gap |
| 1 | Jose Antonio Rueda | 99 | Red Bull KTM Ajo | 34:51.635 |
| 2 | Collin Veijer | 95 | Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP | 1.985 |
| 3 | Luca Lunetta | 58 | SIC58 Squadra Corse | 3.556 |
| 4 | David Alonso | 80 | CFMOTO Aspar Team | 4.942 |
| 5 | Joel Kelso | 66 | BOE Motorsports | 8.503 |
| 6 | Taiyo Furusato | 72 | Honda Team Asia | 13.628 |
| 7 | David Munoz | 64 | BOE Motorsports | 16.962 |
| 8 | Xabi Zurutuza | 85 | Red Bull KTM Ajo | 17.029 |
| 9 | Daniel Holgado | 96 | Red Bull GASGAS Tech3 | 17.165 |
| 10 | Matteo Bertelle | 18 | Kopron Rivacold Snipers Team | 17.578 |
| 11 | Adrian Fernandez | 31 | Leopard Racing | 19.026 |
| 12 | Ivan Ortola | 48 | MT Helmets – MSI | 20.422 |
| 13 | Stefano Nepa | 82 | MTA Team | 23.417 |
| 14 | Tatsuki Suzuki | 24 | Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP | 23.532 |
| 15 | Joel Esteban | 78 | CFMOTO Aspar Team | 23.594 |
| 16 | Scott Ogden | 19 | MLav Racing | 31.150 |
| 17 | Noah Dettwiler | 55 | CIP Green Power | 37.694 |
| 18 | David Almansa | 22 | Kopron Rivacold Snipers Team | 37.799 |
| 19 | Rysei Yamanaka | 6 | MT Helmets – MSI | 44.457 |
| 20 | Riccardo Rossi | 54 | CIP Green Power | 51.534 |
| 21 | Jacob Roulstone | 12 | Red Bull GASGAS Tech3 | 51.593 |
| 22 | Arbi Aditama | 93 | Honda Team Asia | 55.582 |
| 23 | Filippo Ferioli | 7 | SIC58 Squadra Corse | Not classified |
| 24 | Tatchakorn Buasri | 5 | Honda Team Asia | Not classified |
| 25 | Angel Piqueras | 36 | Leopard Racing | Not classified |
