Maximo Quiles stormed to victory in the red-flagged Brazilian Moto3 race to take the lead of the championship.
In a five-lap shootout following a red flag, Quiles faced some pressure from team-mate Marco Morelli, but ultimately prevailed to take victory by 0.143s.
Polesitter Joel Esteban got a great launch off the line and was able to hold onto the lead of the race going into the first corner.
Valentin Perrone also made a fast start from second place and he was immediately able to find his way through on Esteban and into first place.
Marco Morelli was another rider who made a good start from the second row, and at the end of the first lap found enough pace to pass Esteban to make it an Argentina 1-2.
After the delays to Saturday’s schedule following a sinkhole, many of the pre-season favourites found themselves down the order and forced to ride back through the field.
David Almansa and Maximo Quiles both carved through the pack and made their way to the front. Both riders were able to pass the leaders, but Quiles made an error on Lap 4 to give the lead to Almansa.
The race started to level out heading onto Lap 6, until Esteban looked to dive up the inside of Quiles for second place. The Level Up MTA rider highsided out of Turn 4 which ended his race and caused Perrone to take avoiding action.
Following the incident, the riders fighting for third dropped back from the leading duo, with Morelli attempting to close the 1.491s gap to Almansa and Quiles.
However, on Lap 14 Almansa crashed from the lead, high-siding out of the race at Turn 4, with Quiles taking the lead of the race by over four seconds.
Scott Ogden also suffered a crash further down the order shortly afterwards, with the red flag thrown out shortly due to the track conditions.
It was confirmed that the race would be restarted for five laps, with Quiles starting from pole position after leading at the end of Lap 14.
Quiles retained the lead on the restart, with Adrian Fernandez and Alvaro Carpe taking second and third behind.
Morelli had the best pace of the field and took second place ahead of Carpe and Fernandez, and looked to close the gap to his team-mate at the front.
Despite some late pressure, Quiles crossed the line to take the victory by over a tenth of a second with Morelli completing the Aspar 1-2.
Rookie Veda Pratama earned the final spot on the podium in only his second grand prix weekend with the Honda Team Asia setup.
KTM Ajo’s Carpe crossed the line in fourth, with Guido Pini completing the top five for Leopard after starting 16th on the grid.
Finnish rookie Rico Salmela took sixth ahead of Tech3 KTM team-mate Perrone in seventh.
Fernandez crossed the line as the second Leopard rider in eighth over Sic58 Squadra’s Casey
O’Gorman in ninth, with MSi’s Hakim Danish completing the top 10.
KTM Ajo’s Brian Uriarte finished a tenth behind Danish to take 11th, with MLav Racing’s Joel Kelso taking the chequered flag in 12th.
CIP Green Power’s Adrian Cruces crossed the line in 13th ahead of the second MSi bike of Ryusei Yamanaka in 14th.
Eddie O’Shea completed the points finishers in 15th for the MLav Racing squad.
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