Newly crowned World Champion David Alonso earned his fourth successive Moto3 victory in an instant classic at Phillip Island.
Alonso’s 11th victory of the campaign saw him equal Valentino Rossi’s record of the most wins in a lightweight class season, and broke Joan Mir’s record for the most points.
MT Helmets’ Ivan Ortola got a good launch from pole to hold his position into Turn 1, but Boe Motorsports’ David Munoz was able to sweep around the outside to take the lead at Turn 2.
Stefano Nepa briefly took control going onto the second lap but relinquished the lead to home favourite Joel Kelso after serving the first of the long lap penalties he had received after qualifying.
The race proved to develop into a classic Phillip Island group setting, as the leading pack increased lap-on-lap to 17 riders in contention.
Newly crowned champion Alonso moved to the head of the field but was unable to break up the new leading group of 11.
Collin Veijer looked to progress through the field, but made contact with Angel Piqueras, and the Dutchman took Ortola down after losing control of his Husqvarna machine.
The incident allowed the group to close back up as Adrian Fernandez took to the front and was able to pull a slight gap on the rest of the field with 7 laps to go.
Alonso was able to make his way back to the front after brief battles in the group and used late race pace to pull away from Munoz in second.
A strong move from Luca Lunetta on Taiyo Furusato further back in the leading pack saw the podium battle become a fight between the front four.
It was Alonso who judged the race to perfection to take the chequered flag, two seconds clear of his rivals.
The Colombian’s win down under saw him earn his fourth win in a row and equal Valentino Rossi’s record of 11 victories in a lightweight class season.
Tech3 KTM’s Dani Holgado won a four-way race for second place, as Fernandez rounded out the podium in third.
Nepa and Munoz both narrowly missed out on the podium in fourth and fifth.
Ryusei Yamanaka took the flag in sixth with compatriot Furusato trailing behind in seventh.
Lunetta was eighth after a mistake late on in the race ahead of Jose Antonio Rueda in ninth, while Piqueras rounded out the top 10.
Home hero Kelso came home in 11th, narrowly clear of Riccardo Rossi in 12th and fellow Australian Jacob Roulstone in 13th.
Matteo Bertelle took 14th for the Snipers team ahead of Tatsuki Suzuki, who took the final point in 15th.
