Japanese rider Taiyo Furusato ended his long wait for a maiden Moto3 victory with a dominant win in Malaysia.
The Honda Team Asia rider pulled clear to take the win, joined on the podium by Ángel Piqueras and Adrian Fernandez.
The Moto3 sighting lap delayed the start of the race after championship leader Jose Antonio Rueda crashed into Noah Dettwiler, who was coasting along at slow speed on the racing line.
The scary incident caused a near two-hour delay to proceedings, but both riders were reported to be conscious before being airlifted to the hospital.
As a result of the delays, the race distance was reduced from 15 to 10 laps, and polesitter Almansa lost the lead to Furusato entering Turn 1.
Maximo Quiles claimed second spot off Almansa after a strong start as the lead duo established a multiple-tenth advantage at the front.
Almansa regained second place at the end of the first lap, but the gap between himself and the leader Furusato was cut significantly.
He held the lead for a further two laps but was under considerable pressure from pole man Almansa, Guido Pini and Quiles.
The latter lunged his way through on both Pini and Almansa into the final corner to take second place.
This multiple rider battle allowed Furusato to forge a half-second lead, and on Lap 5, Quiles made an error, putting him out of winning contention.
Leopard Racing’s Almansa and Fernandez locked in a battle, but due to an overly opportunistic move from the latter, the gap to Furusato extended further to 0.9s.
Almansa’s drive out of the corner saw him drop down to fourth after Pini lunged his way through on the next corner.
The Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP rider overtook Fernandez on Lap 7, showing he was pushing his bike to the absolute limit.
Almansa made an incredible save at the end of the lap after almost losing the front, but he parked the bike up and rejoined behind CFMoto’s Quiles.
The drama between Pini and Fernandez ahead saw the former crash out at Turn 15 after an overly ambitious move.
Two laps later, Furusato crossed the line to take a dominant victory, crossing the line 2.2s clear of the rest of the field.
Piqueras and Fernandez secured second and third place, followed by polesitter Almansa, who finished 1.5s behind.
Fifth place belonged to Ryusei Yamanaka, who led a five-rider cluster, defeating Alvaro Carpe, Quiles, Scott Ogden and Marcos Uriarte.
Valentin Perrone rounded off the top 10 on the Tech3 KTM, finishing 0.025s clear of Luca Lunetta and half a second ahead of Joel Kelso.
Argentina’s Marco Morelli crossed the line in 13th, just ahead of Nicola Carraro, as Eddie O’Shea secured the final championship point.
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