Moto3 Mugello: Arbolino sliptreams to success in Italy

Tony Arbolino converted his pole position into a race win, but in typical lightweight class style it all came down to the scramble to the line in the Moto3 Italian Grand Prix in Mugello.

The VNE Snipers rider had sat in behind frontrunner Lorenzo Dalla Porta before pulling out from behind to slipstream ahead over the line and win by a slim +0.029s over the finish line.

The Italian is the eleventh consecutive different winner in the Moto3 class and the sixth different winner this season.

Leopard Racing rider Dalla Porta had done much of the hard work leading at the front, but for every error or overtake the Italian seemed to be able to find a reply with ease. 

However on the final lap it was much more of a scramble through the final sector to climb back to the front and although in front in the drive to the line, his lead was less, giving Arbolino the opportunity to overtake, pushing Dalla Porta back to second.

Jaume Masia joined the Honda pair on the podium. The Bester Capital Dubai rider started from eleventh on the grid but battled hard to lead at the start of the final lap after some aggressive overtaking, including a strong move as he forced his KTM up the inside of Dalla Porta on the penultimate lap to hit the front, which saw him claim third in style - only 0.078 separated the podium trio.

Another rider who pushed hard through the pack was Niccolo Antonelli - both he an SIC58 Squadra Corse team-mate Tatsuki Suzuki had their best Q2 laps scratched for leaving pit lane early - meaning the Italian was demoted to 18th ahead of his home race - he rapidly recovered to arrive in the lead group for the closing stages, and even briefly lead, on his way to fourth.

Dennis Foggia was also spurred on by being on home soil, The Sky Racing Team VR46 rider pushed through for fifth at the chequered flag.

John McPhee turned a qualifying to forget into a solid race performance, 17th on the grid after penalties for others was converted to sixth after a feisty performance for Petronas Sprinta Racing.

The back of the leading group saw Aron Canet (Sterilgarda Max Racing Team) duke it out with one time frontrunner Suzuki - the Spaniard came out on top for seventh, and stays at the top of the championship standings - though his lead is now just three points (with a total of 83) over Dalla Porta, who made significant gains in second. 

Celestino Vietti was again the best of the rookies, leading the chasing group in ninth on the second Sky entry.

Darryn Binder ran as high as second but did enough to hold on to a top ten finish for CIP Green Power.

Raul Fernandez had looked to have good race pace after placing second in warm-up but never really got in the mix - he was next to see the finish line in eleventh for the Angel Nieto Team, just ahead of his team-mate Albert Arenas in twelfth.

Sergio Garcia (Estrella Galicia 0,0) took his first world championship points in 13th, Jakub Kornfeil (Redox PruestelGP) finished 14th, while Makar Yurchenko (BOE Skull Rider Mugen Race) collected the final point on offer in 15th.

Gerry Salim, in for Ai Ogura at Honda Team Asia, finished just outside the points places in 16th, with wildcard Ryusei Yamanaka (Estrell Galicia 0,0) was just one place further back in 17th.

Ayumu Masaki was the first to exit, swiftly followed by warm-up leader Gabriel Rodrigo, who had been battling in the lead group.

WIldcard Kevin Zannoni and Alonso Lopez didn’t last much longer while Tom Booth-Amos was next to crash out, ending a hard weekend in the gravel. Marcos Ramirez retired to the pits two laps later.

There was five laps left to run when former Mugello winners Romano Fenati and Andrea Migno both slid out at turn 15.

One lap later Ayumu Sasaki had nowhere to go behind the highsiding Kaito Toba.