Mattia Pasini fended off Xavi Vierge and Miguel Oliveira in Argentina to take his second Moto2 win and the championship lead.
Unlike the prior Moto3 race, the track had dried sufficiently enough to remove any doubt about running slicks in the conditions.
Pole man Vierge took the holeshot at the start, while Oliveira leaped from seventh to second at Turn 1 ahead of Lorenzo Baldassarri.
Baldassarri slid past the KTM rider into Turn 5, and took the lead at Turn 10, while Pasini moved into third at Turn 5 on the following tour.
Pasini put Baldassarri under intense pressure over the next lap and took the lead away from the Pons rider at Turn 7 on the third lap, with Vierge moving back into the podium places ahead of Oliveira.
Vierge attempted to take second from Baldassarri at the penultimate corner, but ran in too hot and was lucky to survive a huge rear end moment – though it saw him drop to fifth.
At the front, Pasini repelled several attacks from Oliveira and attempted to break the pack. But Oliveira and a regrouped Vierge reeled in the Italtrans man, with the former regaining the lead at Turn 5 with six laps to go.
Pasini retaliated at the end of the lap, a daring raid allowing Vierge to move through on Oliveira, with the trio's battling bringing Baldassarri and Alex Marquez back into podium contention.
However, a late lunge on Baldassarri at Turn 5 in the final laps sent the Marc VDS rider wide, while Baldassarri lost touch of the leaders, the Pons man leading home Marquez in fourth.
Pasini gave himself just enough of an advantage into the crucial braking zone of Turn 5 on the final lap to deny Vierge the chance of a lunge at the penultimate turn, giving the Italtrans rider a clean run to victory in his 100th Moto2 start.
Remy Gardner brought his Tech3 machine across the line in sixth ahead of rookie Joan Mir and Dominique Aegerter, while Qatar race winner Francesco Bagnaia ended his race a low-key ninth from Marcel Schrotter.
Jorge Navarro was an early retirement after suffering bike damage when Brad Binder collided with him at Turn 13 on lap two, the KTM rider's race ending in the incident. Jules Danilo also failed the make the finish, the Moto2 rookie forced out with clutch issues.
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