Pedro Acosta soared to a fifth win of the Moto3 season in the Styrian Grand Prix as title rival Sergio Acosta took second despite crashing on the final lap.
The two title rivals decimated the rest of the competition in the mixed condition encounter, with the damp track drying throughout the 23-lap race and giving way to a significant dry line that seemed to promise a late charge from the riders that gambled on slicks prior to the start.
Both Acosta and Garcia elected to take the start on wets, with the duo immediately gapping the rest alongside MAX Racing’s Romano Fenati, who led the way on the opening lap before Garcia moved clear at the second-to-last bend.
Acosta followed through soon after as both began to fly well clear of the Italian as he fell back towards the chasing pack.
Acosta remained firmly within the wheel tracks of his chief rival throughout the race as the pulled away at around a second per lap compared to anyone else, the Spaniard trying to pass at several points but never finding himself able to make the move stick.
With now 14 seconds separating them from the rest as the final lap began, Acosta first dived through at Turn 1 before Garcia snapped back and retook the initiative at Turn 3.
Acosta remained within slipstream range for one final attack though, a siege he rolled into action at the penultimate bend as he slipped through cleanly on the inside.
Disaster was to follow for the Garcia though as he lost the front of his GasGas machine as he touched the damper outer part of the track, sliding off into the run-off to allow Acosta to cruise past the chequered flag for yet another win and to extend his points lead.
Garcia though somehow found himself able to re-mount and still cross the line in the runners-up spot, just a second clear of Fenati who managed to defeat Jaume Masia for the last spot on the rostrum on the final circulation.
Ayumu Sasaki held off a charging Darryn Binder for fifth in the closing stages, the Petronas SRT racer making his slicks work in the end to recover solid points, while Ryusei Yamanaka scored his best ever lightweight class result in seventh.
Yuki Kunii and Maximillian Kofler likewise recorded their best Moto3 results in eighth and ninth as the made the best of the tricky conditions, with Adrian Fernandez taking his second top ten of the year on the second MAX Racing entry.
John McPhee failed to make his slicks work as well as his team-mate as he could only manage 13th, while pole-man Deniz Oncu’s late gamble failed as he took the chequered flag 21st after changing to slicks too late and thus having to start at the back.
Acosta’s series lead now swells to 55 points over Garcia ahead of next weekend’s Austrian GP at the same venue.
