Aragon Moto3 2015 Results
The hunt for the 2015 Moto3 title intensified Sunday during round 14 of 18 at the Aragon Circuit in Spain. Two major events at Aragon Moto3 2015 upset the points race – a last-lap crash that included title rivals Enea Bastianini and Danny Kent, and a victory by Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Miguel Oliveira.
While battling on the final lap, Leopard Racing’s Kent and Gresini Racing Team Moto3’s Bastianini crashed out, allowing Oliveira to claim his third win of 2015 Moto3. Kent continues to lead the championship, but is now 55 points ahead of Bastianini. In third, 20 points behind the Italian, is Oliveira.
When Aragon Moto3 2015 wrapped up, Oliveira earned the win by 0.193 of a second ahead of Estrella Galicia’s Jorge Navarro, and 1.505 seconds ahead of Roman Fenati aboard the Sky Racing Team VR46 KTM – a team owned by nine-time World Champion Valentino Rossi.
Aragon Moto3 2015 Results – Official Recap
From the start it was Oliveira who got the holeshot as Kent found himself dropping down to fifth, but it didn’t take long for Bastianini to get to the front and he led across the line after the first lap.
Oliveira then re-took the lead on lap two and tried to break away but the slipstream effect at Aragon meant that it was almost impossible to do so. Kent did not have a great start and found himself as low as eighth at one point. Romano Fenati on the other hand enjoyed a good start and by the end of lap 4 he had worked his way up into fifth from tenth on the grid.
On lap six Kent and Binder almost made contact and the British rider dropped back while Romano Fenati made his move into the lead. Kent recovered and found himself in an excellent scrap with his main title rival Bastianini before starting a charge that saw him up into third at the start of lap eight.
A few corners later Kent hit the front for the first time and immediately pulled the pin. The newly announced teammates for 2016, Kent and Oliveira, then had an excellent scrap at the front, swapping the lead a number of times. By this point a leading group of ten had broken away from the rest of the field with Alexis Masbou leading the chasing pack.
On lap 10 Antonelli decided to join the party at the front, and Fenati was looking menacing in fourth as the action heated up. Jorge Navarro started to make his move and Enea Bastianini had also started to mix it with the leading riders.
With 8 laps to go Isaac Viñales (Husqvarna Factory Laglisse) and Darryn Binder (Outox Reset Drink Team) crashed out under braking into turn 12 whilst battling at the front of the chasing group and Karel Hanika (Red Bull KTM Ajo) had a nasty highside at turn two. At the front each rider seemed to be taking turns leading the race as no one could open up a decisive gap try as they might.
Kent then had a big moment with four laps to go as he tried to move into the lead and found himself dropping back to fifth and into the grasp of Bastianini, while Oliveira took over at the front.
With two laps to go there were nine riders battling for the win as Martin started to drop off the back of the leading pack. Brad Binder took the lead for the first time on the penultimate lap and he and his teammate Oliveira looked like they had timed it perfectly as they opened up a slight gap heading to the final lap.
On an incredible final lap Bastianini had closed the gap and it was a three-way battle for the victory. Then in dramatic fashion the Italian caught the back of Binder and both crashed out in an incident that could have had a huge impact on the championship.
Just when it looked like Kent would benefit from his title rivals fall to extend his lead in the standings he also amazingly crashed out, as he lost the rear on the very last corner.
This left Oliveira to take his third victory of the season while Jorge Navarro claimed his first Moto3 podium despite experiencing a heavy crash in the morning’s Warm Up session. Fenati completed the rostrum for his third podium of the season.
Efren Vazquez (Leopard Racing) was in fourth, ahead of Phillip Oettl (Schedl GP Racing) and Niccolo Antonelli (Ongetta-Rivacold). Mapfre Team Mahindra’s Jorge Martin, Alexis Masbou (SAXOPRINT RTG), Hiroki Ono (Leopard Racing) and Andrea Migno (Sky Racing Team VR46) completed the top ten.
Maria Herrera (Husqvarna Factory Laglisse) pulled off her career best finish in 14th, while Scotsman John McPhee (SAXOPRINT RTG) crossed the line in 17th.
All this means Danny Kent (234 points) still leads the championship standings from Enea Bastianini (179 points) while Miguel Oliveira (159 points) closes the gap to the Italian to 20 points in third.