Maximo Quiles produced a sensational ride on his return from injury to clinch victory in the Aragon Moto3 race.
Quiles suffered a broken collarbone during qualifying at Silverstone, having surgery on the injury 21 days ago, but prevailed in a race-long stand-off against David Almansa.
Almansa made the best start from pole position to lead into the first corner ahead of the Aspar pair Marco Morelli and Quiles.
After getting a decent star, the championship leader immediately decided to pass team-mate Morelli to take second and keep track of Almansa early in the race.
Brian Uriarte also made a fast start and attempted to demote Morelli to third, and although his initial overtake was successful, the Argentine regained the position at Turn 1 on Lap 2.
Uriarte was given a long lap penalty for dangerous riding in qualifying, and took his penalty on Lap 4 and dropped almost two seconds off the leading trio of Almansa, Quiles and Alvaro Carpe.
The race fell into a bit of a lull in the mid-section as both Quiles and Carpe continued to track Almansa in the lead, without attempting an overtake, which allowed Morelli to make it a
Meanwhile Uriarte looked to close the gap to the leaders after serving his penalty, overtaking three riders on Lap 8 to move back into fifth place and just shy of three seconds behind the top four.
With seven laps remaining, Quiles decided it was time to take charge and overtook Almansa for the lead of the race on the run down to the first corner.
However, just as Quiles looked to be in control in the lead, he ran wide at Turn 10 and gifted the lead back to Almansa.
The mistake allowed the four riders to close in once more and Quiles retook the lead at Turn 1, with Morelli and Carpe both managing to get past Almansa.
Almansa didn’t take the move lying down and immediately responded to getting overtaken by passing both Morelli and Carpe, which gave Quiles a half-second advantage at the front.
Almansa appeared to keep something in reserve though, as he was able to close in on the final lap and challenge Quiles for the race victory.
Carpe dropped back from the trio and finished fourth, while Uriarte completed the top five after his long lap penalty.
Adrian Cruces took the chequered flag after a lonely race in sixth, with Casey O’Gorman leading the third pack of riders home in seventh.
Valentin Perrone finished eighth, while the Leopard riders completed the top 10 with Guido Pini ninth and Adrian Fernandez 10th.
Matteo Bertelle narrowly missed out on the top 10, but finished 11th ahead of Hakim Danish and the MLav Racing pair of Joel Kelso and Eddie O’Shea.
Scott Ogden rounded out the points finishers by taking 15th at the flag.
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