2015 Jerez Moto3 Results
Leopard Racing’s Danny Kent began impressing at the Qatar season opener. The Brit earned third, finishing just over a tenth of a second behind winner Alexis Masbou.
But the Brit wanted more, and upped the energy levels. He would take the Moto3 wins at Texas’ Circuit of the Americas and Argentina’s Termas de Rio Hondo. And this weekend, he did it again; Kent carried this energy into the first European round of 2015 Moto3 at Jerez, taking his third-straight win.
But it wasn’t easy like his runaway victories in Texas and Argentina; Kent fought to the very end, winning an intense last-lap battle with the pole sitter, Fabio Quartararo, and Miquel Oliveira.
The race came down to the final corner (13, Lorenzo Corner). Quartararo looked as if he would take the win but the Estrella Galicia 0,0 Honda pilot stayed on the brakes too long, and after contacting Kent he ran wide.
This allowed Kent to take victory. Following a mere 0.097 of a second back was Oliveria . Taking the final podium position 0.296 of a second behind was Oiveria’s teammate Brad Bander.
With his back-to-back wins, Kent became the first British rider to win three GP’s in a row since Barry Sheene in 1977.
The 16-year-old Frenchman Quartararo was able to finish fourth, 0.882 seconds back. He was followed by Kent’s teammate Efren Vazquez, who fought his way to fifth from 17th.
The South African rider claiming the last step on the podium when Quartararo (+0.882s) ran wide, with the 16 year old Frenchman crossing the line in 4th.
Sky Racing team VR46’s Romano Fenati – Valentino Rossi owns the team – finished a further seven seconds behind to earn sixth ahead of Mapfre Team Mahindra’s Francesco Bagnaia and Quartararo’s teammate Jorge Navarro.
Rounding out the top 10 were Gresini Racing Team Moto3’s Francesco Bagnaia and SAXOPRINT-RTG Honda’s John McPhee.
Karel Hanika finished the race down in 22nd after crashing and remounting, but was later fined 5 penalty points by Race Direction for intentionally making contact with Juanfran Guevara, who broke his collarbone. As a result, when added to the two points he had from before, Hanika now has a total of 7 penalty points and will have to start the race in Le Mans from the pit lane, MotoGP says.
With his win, Kent now has 91 points, and leads his teammate Vazquez by 31. In third with 52 points is Quartararo.
The series now breaks for two weeks before heading to Le Mans in France.
2015 Jerez Moto3 Results:
1. 25 points, #52 Danny KENT GBR Leopard Racing Honda 147.6 41’19.552
2. 20, #44 Miguel OLIVEIRA POR Red Bull KTM Ajo KTM 147.6 +0.097
3. 16, #41 Brad BINDER RSA Red Bull KTM Ajo KTM 147.6 +0.296
4. 13, #20 Fabio QUARTARARO FRA Estrella Galicia 0,0 Honda 147.6 +0.882
5. 11, #7 Efren VAZQUEZ SPA Leopard Racing Honda 147.5 +2.906
6. 10, #5 Romano FENATI ITA SKY Racing Team VR46 KTM 147.0 +11.035
7. 9, #21 Francesco BAGNAIA ITA MAPFRE Team MAHINDRA Mahindra 147.0 +11.126
8. 8, #9 Jorge NAVARRO SPA Estrella Galicia 0,0 Honda 147.0 +11.761
9. 7, #33 Enea BASTIANINI ITA Gresini Racing Team Moto3 Honda 146.7 +15.861
10. 6, #17 John MCPHEE GBR SAXOPRINT RTG Honda 146.7 +15.964
11. 5, #32 Isaac VIÑALES SPA Husqvarna Factory Laglisse Husqvarna 146.7 +16.015
12. 4, #95 Jules DANILO FRA Ongetta-Rivacold Honda 146.7 +16.047
13. 3, #11 Livio LOI BEL RW Racing GP Honda 146.5 +18.800
14. 2, #88 Jorge MARTIN SPA MAPFRE Team MAHINDRA Mahindra 146.2 +24.592
15. 1, #10 Alexis MASBOU FRA SAXOPRINT RTG Honda 146.2 +24.703
16. #55 Andrea LOCATELLI ITA Gresini Racing Team Moto3 Honda 146.1 +25.985
17. #31 Niklas AJO FIN RBA Racing Team KTM 145.5 +35.795
18. #12 Matteo FERRARI ITA San Carlo Team Italia Mahindra 145.5 +35.948
19. #29 Stefano MANZI ITA San Carlo Team Italia Mahindra 145.5 +36.363
20. #58 Juanfran GUEVARA SPA MAPFRE Team MAHINDRA Mahindra 145.5 +36.498
21. #16 Andrea MIGNO ITA SKY Racing Team VR46 KTM 145.5 +36.532
22. #98 Karel HANIKA CZE Red Bull KTM Ajo KTM 145.5 +37.021
23. #24 Tatsuki SUZUKI JPN CIP Mahindra 145.5 +37.175
24. #40 Darryn BINDER RSA Outox Reset Drink Team Mahindra 145.5 +37.318
25. #2 Remy GARDNER AUS CIP Mahindra 145.2 +40.942
26. #63 Zulfahmi KHAIRUDDIN MAL Drive M7 SIC KTM 144.5 +53.592
27. #22 Ana CARRASCO SPA RBA Racing Team KTM 143.6 +1’09.547
Not Classified
65 Philipp OETTL GER Schedl GP Racing KTM 146.7 5 Laps
84 Jakub KORNFEIL CZE Drive M7 SIC KTM 146.9 8 Laps
76 Hiroki ONO JPN Leopard Racing Honda 146.8 8 Laps
19 Alessandro TONUCCI ITA Outox Reset Drink Team Mahindra 143.8 11 Laps
23 Niccolò ANTONELLI ITA Ongetta-Rivacold Honda 146.3 12 Laps
91 Gabriel RODRIGO ARG RBA Racing Team KTM 141.4 20 Laps
6 Maria HERRERA SPA Husqvarna Factory Laglisse Husqvarna 141.1 21 Laps
2015 Jerez Moto3 Photo Gallery:
