Guido Pini prevailed in a four-rider shootout on the final lap at COTA to clinch his first victory in the Moto3 class.
Pini was in the battle for the victory throughout the race, and took advantage at the final corner following a skirmish between Alvaro Carpe and Valentin Perrone to cross the line in first position ahead of Maximo Quiles.
Initially, it was polesitter Carpe who made the best start and held onto the lead of this race going into Turn 1 ahead of Perrone. Carpe had a moment in Turn 3 but still maintained his lead over the Argentine over the first lap.
Maximo Quiles made a fantastic start from the third row and moved into third place ahead of Veda Pratama and Casey O’Gorman. O’Gorman ran wide in two successive corners on Lap 3 to drop down the order – before eventually crashing out with three to go.
Perrone overtook Carpe out front on Lap 5, as Pini began to make progress after dropping to eighth on the start from fifth on the grid.
However, Perrone’s lead was short-lived as the front four began to establish themselves. Quiles took the lead on Lap 7, while Pini produced a triple overtake on Perrone, Carpe and team-mate Adrian Fernandez for second.
Pratama highsided out of the race while running seventh, and his bike fell into the path of the unfortunate Joel Esteban, who was taken out of contention through no fault of his own.
The front four continued to duel over the final two laps, with the race victory still hanging in the balance as they crossed the line for the last lap.
Carpe moved past Pini into Turn 1 for second place, before overtaking Perrone to find himself in the lead. Quiles managed to pass Pini for third into Turn 11, but the Italian got him back at the very next corner.
The pair managed to catch back up to the back of the duelling top two, and it was a last corner dash for who could win the race.
It was Pini who crossed the line to take the race victory by 0.056s, in what was his first win in the class.
Quiles spotted the danger and settled with second, meanwhile Carpe completed the top three after he ran himself and Perrone wide at the final corner.
Perrone was disappointed in fourth, while Fernandez rounded out the top five almost nine seconds back from the battle.
Adrian Cruces took sixth after cutting across Brian Uriarte over the start/finish line and received a quick penalty after the race. Rico Salmela inherited the position as a result of the incident, with Uriarte in seventh.
Cruces slotted into eighth following the penalty, while Matteo Bertelle in ninth split both CIP GreenPower riders as Scott Ogden completed the top 10.
Eddie O’Shea took 11th at the flag, as Marco Morelli finished 12th even after serving a long lap penalty.
Hakim Danish earned 13th over the line ahead of Marcos Uriarte in 14th. Despite a double long lap penalty from an indiscretion in Brazil, Jesus Rios completed the points finishers in 15th.
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