Jose Antonio Rueda was crowned Moto3 World Champion after taking a dramatic victory in a red-flagged race in Indonesia.
Rueda needed to outscore Angel Piqueras by seven points and Maximo Quiles by 11 to seal the title this weekend, and achieved the title after both were awarded long lap penalties for shortcuts on Lap 15.
At the start, Joel Kelso took advantage of riders in front of him running wide as he led the race out of the first corner.
Contact between Munoz and Fernandez on Lap 2 saw the more experienced Spanish rider sit up and lose places in the leading group. However, Fernandez was undeterred as he passed Kelso for first.
Maximo Quiles had a strong start to the race, as he also found his way through on the Australian. Kelso then lost further positions to Munoz and Almansa
Piqueras was running in sixth, but forced to run wide at Turn 1 after getting sandwiched between Munoz and Alvaro Carpe, dropping him behind Rueda in the title battle.
Kelso crashed out of the race at Turn 10 to end his bid of race victory, promoting the title contenders to eighth and ninth.
Quiles then managed to get past Fernandez for the lead, where he would stay until he ran wide at Turn 10 and allowed the Leopard rider and Rueda to make their overtakes.
In the flurry of moves, Rueda found himself in second place behind Fernandez, which put him in position to take the title.
Rueda then moved into the lead after overtaking Fernandez, with his title chances increasing as both of his rivals ran into trouble in the leading pack.
Three riders in the lead group exited the race in a messy incident at Turn 10, when Almansa lost the front while attempting a double overtake on Alvaro Carpe and Taiyo Furusato.
There was further drama, as Quiles and Piqueras were awarded long lap penalties for shortcuts at Turn 9.
Adrian Fernandez and David Munoz came together for a second time in the race, with Munoz suffering a heavy crash out at Turn 12 which would see the race red-flagged shortly after.
Following the incident and Fernandez was awarded the equivalent of a double long lap penalty, which meant Rueda won the race, as well as the championship.
Quiles was initially awarded second place, but was demoted after his long lap penalty was not counted due to the red flag countback.
The three-second penalty for Quiles saw Luca Lunetta return to the podium in second, while Guido Pini earned his first visit to the rostrum in third.
Quiles was fourth after the penalty was applied, while Jacob Roulstone took a top-five finish.
Adrian Fernandez finished sixth following his penalty as he took the flag seconds clear of both MT Helmets riders, with Piqueras ahead of team-mate Ryusei Yamanaka.
Stefano Nepa scored a ninth place despite suffering transponder issues throughout the race, while Kelso recovered from his early crash to complete the top 10.
Matteo Bertelle finished narrowly behind his team-mate in 11th, as compatriot Dennis Foggia earned 12th in the final standings.
Ruche Moodley finished 13th on his Mandalika debut, with the MLav Racing pair of Marco Morelli and Eddie O’Shea completing the points finishers in 14th and 15th respectively.
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