Aspar’s David Alonso took a remarkable last-lap victory in Indonesia to increase his championship lead in the Moto3 standings.
Alonso’s win over Leopard’s Adrian Fernandez means that the Colombian has a championship point to play in Motegi, and could win the title in Japan next weekend.
MT Helmets’ Ivan Ortola got away well from pole position, but it was Honda Team Asia’s Taiyo Furusato who got the run down to the first corner and was able to overtake the Spanish rider going into Turn 1.
Furusato was then the one giving the slipstream to his rivals and was overtaken by IntactGP’s Collin Veijer and Fernandez as they looked to clear away from the group with their different hard compound tyres.
Poleman Ortola had to serve a double long lap penalty due to his third offence for riding extremely slowly on the racing line in qualifying. He took his penalty immediately to allow Alonso to chase after the top three.
The top ten continued to follow each other closely in the early stages of the race, with very few changes of position occurring amongst the leading group of riders.
Tatsuki Suzuki appeared to be the one with the pace with 10 laps to go, and pulled moves on Daniel Holgado and Alonso to move up to the podium positions.
Veijer was looking to take advantage of the battles emerging behind him and attempted to pull a gap to those behind, but he lost the front on the change of direction at Turn 8 and crashed out of the lead of the race.
The Dutchman’s exit from the race allowed Fernandez to take control ahead of Holgado and Suzuki, who were jostling for second behind the new leader.
With four laps to go, the group decided to up the pace and Fernandez was demoted to fourth after being overtaken by Furusato, Boe Motorsport’s David Munoz and Alonso.
Furusato attempted to get back on terms with those ahead of him after losing places on the start/finish straight, but highsided out of the race at Turn 1 with three laps to go.
It was a group of six that were going for the win and a slipstream from five riders ahead of him allowed Sic58’s Luca Lunetta to take the lead, which he would lose to Fernandez one lap later.
Championship leader Alonso made use of his experience fighting for wins on the final lap and once again took charge with a few corners of the race to go, and would take the chequered flag first, ahead of first-time podium finisher Fernandez in second and Munoz in third.
Leopard’s Angel Piqueras crossed the line in fourth but ran off the track at the final corner, along with fifth-placed finisher Lunetta.
Holgado came home in sixth ahead of Suzuki and Boe Motorsport’s Joel Kelso.
Ortola eventually took ninth despite having to serve a third long lap in the race for a shortcut, and LevelUp MTA’s Nicola Carraro rounded out the top 10.
KTM Ajo rider Jose Antonio Rueda took 11th after serving two long lap penalties, ahead of Snipers’ Matteo Bertelle in 12th and MLav Racing’s Scott Ogden in 13th.
Aspar’s Joel Esteban finished the race in 14th while LevelUp MTA’s Stefano Nepa rounded out the points in 15th despite taking three long lap penalties in the race.
