Maximo Quiles produced a stunning final corner move as he clinched a tense Moto3 victory in Misano.
Quiles followed polesitter David Almansa throughout the race, but refused to make his decisive move until the final corner of the race, forcing his way through on the run to the line.
Almansa had made the best start from pole position to hold onto the lead at the first corner over Brian Uriarte, as Valentin Perrone moved into third.
Second in the championship Alvaro Carpe, who received a 12 place grid penalty after qualifying, crashed out while trying to make progress from 21st on the grid. Meanwhile, title leader Quiles moved forward from his grid position after pulling an aggressive move on Joel Kelso for fourth.
Quiles also managed to pass Perrone at Turn 1 on Lap 4, but Almansa looked to keep building the gap after an error from Uriarte behind.
After setting a race lap even faster than Almansa’s pole time, Quiles closed on Uriarte before eventually making a move. With his pass on the Spanish rookie, Quiles set his sights on closing the gap to long-time leader Almansa.
However after getting close to the race lead, a bobble from the front of Quiles’ Aspar saw him lose the ground he made up, dropping back behind Uriarte as the top three remained in a race of their own.
It took three laps for Quiles to get back in front of Uriarte, but the championship leader saw Almansa trying to break away and took the initiative to follow his compatriot, though he was still unable to shake the KTM Ajo rider behind.
With five laps remaining, the leading pair finally managed to break away from Uriarte, with Quiles continuing to stalk Almansa but did not make any attempt at a move.
However, on the final lap, Quiles looked to find an opening on Almansa, who was continuing to run defensive lines in a bid to stop the championship leader from getting past.
A wide line coming out of the final corner saw the riders level, with Quiles led for the 10 metres down to the line to take the chequered flag and win the race.
Quiles extended his championship lead over Almansa, who moved to second in the standings, with his advantage sitting at 102 points.
Almansa was forced to settle for second after missing out on the race win by just 0.021s over the line.
Uriarte completed the podium in third, over a second behind the pair but more than 12 seconds ahead of the next group, which saw Matteo Bertelle take fourth after a close fight.
Perrone completed the top five, with team-mate Rico Salmela sixth and Joel Kelso in seventh.
Adrian Cruces progressed from the back of the grid to eighth, while Marco Morelli finished just a tenth behind in ninth.
Casey O’Gorman completed the top 10 after a close battle for the minor points positions – with David Gonzalez 11th and Hakim Danish 12th after starting from the back of the grid due to a penalty.
Ryusei Yamanaka took 13th at the flag ahead of Adrian Fernandez, whose late long lap penalty demoted him to 14th.
Scott Ogden rounded out the points finishers in 15th.
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