Spoiler Alert: 2012 Moto3 Championship results from Valencia listed below
In a thrilling final Moto3 encounter in the wet at the Gran Premio Generali de la Comunitat Valenciana, Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Danny Kent put in a stunning ride to take victory ahead of Sandro Cortese and Zulfahmi Khairuddin.
Pole-man Jonas Folger had technical issues on the out-lap and had to start from the pits, meaning that it was RW Racing GP’s Luis Salom that led the early exchanges in front of Estrella Galicia 0,0’s Miguel Oliveira and Ambrogio Next Racing’s Alex Márquez.
On lap three it was Márquez that went into the lead, with Oliveira following suit to relegate Salom to third. This was however short lived as Márquez lost the front and crashed out.
In the pursuing group, Racing Team Germany’s Louis Rossi was putting on a strong show ahead of JHK t-shirt Laglisse’s Efrén Vázquez and Red Bull KTM Ajo duo of Cortese and Kent. Folger’s day then got worse as he retired from the race, as well as JHK’s Adrián Martín and IodaRacing Project’s Luigi Morciano. Caretta-Technology’s John McPhee was also caught out by the wet as he dropped his bike on lap eight.
Yet as more riders got used to the track surface, the likes of Salom’s teammate Brad Binder starting challenging the front-runners. With 13 laps remaining Salom had dropped off the pace and was embroiled in an entertaining battle with Blusens Avintia’s Maverick Viñales. Past the halfway point and the battles were hotting up with Salom and Viñales, as well as Binder and Kent going fairing-to-fairing.
2012 Valencia Moto3 Results:
| Pos. | Points | Num. | Rider | Nation | Team | Bike | Km/h | Time/Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 25 | 52 | Danny KENT | GBR | Red Bull KTM Ajo | KTM | 127.9 | 45’05.891 |
| 2. | 20 | 11 | Sandro CORTESE | GER | Red Bull KTM Ajo | KTM | 127.9 | +0.056 |
| 3. | 16 | 63 | Zulfahmi KHAIRUDDIN | MAL | AirAsia-Sic-Ajo | KTM | 127.9 | +0.114 |
| 4. | 13 | 41 | Brad BINDER | RSA | RW Racing GP | Kalex KTM | 127.9 | +0.431 |
| 5. | 11 | 55 | Hector FAUBEL | SPA | Andalucia JHK t-shirt Laglisse | FTR Honda | 127.7 | +4.371 |
| 6. | 10 | 96 | Louis ROSSI | FRA | Racing Team Germany | FTR Honda | 127.5 | +7.605 |
| 7. | 9 | 84 | Jakub KORNFEIL | CZE | Redox-Ongetta-Centro Seta | FTR Honda | 127.2 | +14.931 |
| 8. | 8 | 25 | Maverick VIÑALES | SPA | Blusens Avintia | FTR Honda | 127.0 | +18.495 |
| 9. | 7 | 31 | Niklas AJO | FIN | TT Motion Events Racing | KTM | 126.8 | +23.180 |
| 10. | 6 | 39 | Luis SALOM | SPA | RW Racing GP | Kalex KTM | 126.8 | +23.245 |
| 11. | 5 | 65 | Philipp OETTL | GER | HP Moto Kalex | Kalex KTM | 126.6 | +27.532 |
| 12. | 4 | 58 | Juan Francisco GUEVARA | SPA | Wild Wolf BST | FTR Honda | 126.5 | +30.331 |
| 13. | 3 | 27 | Niccolò ANTONELLI | ITA | San Carlo Gresini Moto3 | FTR Honda | 126.4 | +31.255 |
| 14. | 2 | 19 | Alessandro TONUCCI | ITA | Team Italia FMI | FTR Honda | 126.3 | +34.660 |
| 15. | 1 | 28 | Josep RODRIGUEZ | SPA | Moto FGR | FGR Honda | 125.5 | +50.522 |
| 16. | 42 | Alex RINS | SPA | Estrella Galicia 0,0 | Suter Honda | 125.5 | +50.554 | |
| 17. | 30 | Giulian PEDONE | SWI | Ambrogio Next Racing | Suter Honda | 125.5 | +51.725 | |
| 18. | 5 | Romano FENATI | ITA | Team Italia FMI | FTR Honda | 125.5 | +51.826 | |
| 19. | 61 | Arthur SISSIS | AUS | Red Bull KTM Ajo | KTM | 125.4 | +52.970 | |
| 20. | 32 | Isaac VIÑALES | SPA | Ongetta-Centro Seta | FTR Honda | 125.2 | +57.930 | |
| 21. | 89 | Alan TECHER | FRA | Technomag-CIP-TSR | TSR Honda | 125.1 | +1’00.758 | |
| 22. | 29 | Luca AMATO | GER | Mapfre Aspar Team Moto3 | Kalex KTM | 123.0 | +1’47.794 | |
| 23. | 51 | Kenta FUJII | JPN | Technomag-CIP-TSR | TSR Honda | 123.0 | +1’47.977 | |
| 24. | 80 | Armando PONTONE | ITA | IodaRacing Project | Ioda | 122.1 | 1 Lap | |
| Not Classified | ||||||||
| 8 | Jack MILLER | AUS | Caretta Technology | Honda | 127.1 | 5 Laps | ||
| 9 | Toni FINSTERBUSCH | GER | Racing Team Germany | Honda | 125.7 | 5 Laps | ||
| 99 | Danny WEBB | GBR | Mahindra Racing | Mahindra | 124.0 | 6 Laps | ||
| 44 | Miguel OLIVEIRA | POR | Estrella Galicia 0,0 | Suter Honda | 126.6 | 9 Laps | ||
| 7 | Efren VAZQUEZ | SPA | JHK t-shirt Laglisse | FTR Honda | 126.6 | 9 Laps | ||
| 95 | Miroslav POPOV | CZE | Mahindra Racing | Mahindra | 122.1 | 15 Laps | ||
| 17 | John McPHEE | GBR | Caretta Technology | KRP Honda | 115.7 | 15 Laps | ||
| 94 | Jonas FOLGER | GER | Mapfre Aspar Team Moto3 | Kalex KTM | 122.1 | 17 Laps | ||
| 26 | Adrian MARTIN | SPA | JHK t-shirt Laglisse | FTR Honda | 117.6 | 17 Laps | ||
| 3 | Luigi MORCIANO | ITA | Ioda Team Italia | Ioda | 110.5 | 20 Laps | ||
| 12 | Alex MARQUEZ | SPA | Ambrogio Next Racing | Suter Honda | 123.0 | 21 Laps | ||
2012 Moto3 Championship Final Point Standings:
| Pos. | Rider | Bike | Nation | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Sandro CORTESE | KTM | GER | 325 |
| 2. | Luis SALOM | Kalex KTM | SPA | 214 |
| 3. | Maverick VIÑALES | FTR Honda | SPA | 207 |
| 4. | Danny KENT | KTM | GBR | 154 |
| 5. | Alex RINS | Suter Honda | SPA | 141 |
| 6. | Romano FENATI | FTR Honda | ITA | 136 |
| 7. | Zulfahmi KHAIRUDDIN | KTM | MAL | 128 |
| 8. | Miguel OLIVEIRA | Suter Honda | POR | 114 |
| 9. | Jonas FOLGER | Kalex KTM | GER | 93 |
| 10. | Efren VAZQUEZ | FTR Honda | SPA | 93 |
| 11. | Louis ROSSI | FTR Honda | FRA | 86 |
| 12. | Arthur SISSIS | KTM | AUS | 84 |
| 13. | Alexis MASBOU | Honda | FRA | 81 |
| 14. | Niccolò ANTONELLI | FTR Honda | ITA | 77 |
| 15. | Jakub KORNFEIL | FTR Honda | CZE | 71 |
| 16. | Hector FAUBEL | FTR Honda | SPA | 63 |
| 17. | Alberto MONCAYO | FTR Honda | SPA | 52 |
| 18. | Alessandro TONUCCI | FTR Honda | ITA | 45 |
| 19. | Niklas AJO | KTM | FIN | 40 |
| 20. | Alex MARQUEZ | Suter Honda | SPA | 27 |
| 21. | Brad BINDER | Kalex KTM | RSA | 24 |
| 22. | Alan TECHER | TSR Honda | FRA | 21 |
| 23. | Jack MILLER | Honda | AUS | 17 |
| 24. | Adrian MARTIN | FTR Honda | SPA | 16 |
| 25. | Ivan MORENO | FTR Honda | SPA | 10 |
| 26. | Jasper IWEMA | FGR Honda | NED | 9 |
| 27. | Luca GRUENWALD | Honda | GER | 8 |
| 28. | Isaac VIÑALES | FTR Honda | SPA | 8 |
| 29. | Giulian PEDONE | Suter Honda | SWI | 7 |
| 30. | Toni FINSTERBUSCH | Honda | GER | 7 |
| 31. | Philipp OETTL | Kalex KTM | GER | 5 |
| 32. | Juan Francisco GUEVARA | FTR Honda | SPA | 4 |
| 33. | Marcel SCHROTTER | Mahindra | GER | 4 |
| 34. | Kevin HANUS | Honda | GER | 3 |
| 35. | Kevin CALIA | Honda | ITA | 2 |
| 36. | Josep RODRIGUEZ | FGR Honda | SPA | 1 |
| 37. | John McPHEE | KRP Honda | GBR | 1 |
| 38. | Michael Ruben RINALDI | Honda | ITA | 1 |
| 39. | Simone GROTZKYJ | Suter Honda | ITA | 1 |
