Drama occurred from the start along with the rain which made the track very slippery. Ayumi Sasaki as the pole sitter was left behind by four racers at the start. Dani Holgado starting from P10 managed to climb six ladders.
There was intense competition between Diogo Moreira, Tatsuki Suzuki, Deniz Oncu, Ivan Ortola in the first lap. The Red Bull KTM Ajo racer was very aggressive so he took the group leader.
Meanwhile, Mario Suryo Aji, who has been tough on wet tracks, has yet to show his fangs. He dropped to 20th.
Oncu tried to widen the gap with Suzuki by 0.5 seconds. Jaume Masia pushed into P3 after lap 3, ahead of Sasaki and Holgado.
Aki Ajo’s Garage seemed to be having a nightmare when he saw Oncu fall hard at Turn 11. As a result, Suzuki inherited the leading position. Moments later, the young man from Türkiye rejoined.
David Almansa, Joel Kelso’s interim replacement at CFMoto Prusterl, was never detected during practice. However, surprisingly, the 17-year-old teenager was able to climb to second place on lap 4, between Suzuki and Xavi Artigas.
The close distance makes the racers take advantage of the slipstream and perform aggressive maneuvers for a better position.
Artigas and Almansa who defended the same team, almost touched each other at the last corner, the seventh lap. They took turns fumigating each other.
Sasaki took second place with a gap of 2.5 seconds from Suzuki, who continued to score the fastest lap. In the current circumstances, it is difficult for the Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP rider to compete in the front row.
Sasaki and Almansa made contact at Turn 5 but neither crashed. The sensation of winning the 2022 FIM JuniorGP continued with the fastest lap. As a result of this incident, the Japanese racer was penalized one grid backwards and handed over P2 to the newcomer.
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On lap 10, Ivan Ortola of the Angelus MTA Team crashed at Turn 2. Sasaki flew off his bike and crashed hard at Turn 13 because the rear of the bike locked. The racer experienced an anti-climax.
Remaining seven laps, Suzuki is increasingly isolated after adding a gap of 4.324 seconds with Masia. Almansa’s attempt to defend the final podium from his teammate failed. It lost P3 from Artigas and Munoz.
It’s a shame that the Honda Team Asia racer from Indonesia, Mario Aji, has not moved from 18th place even though Sasaki has been sidelined.
The last fifth lap, David Salvador was penalized one grid down for violating the Yellow Flag. Bad ending was also experienced by Jaume Masia and Mario Aji who crashed.
The incident promoted Artigas to second and Munoz to P3. Both of them fell together at Turn 13. Both of them immediately got up and started driving their motorbikes.
Artigas dropped to P9 while racer Boe Motorsports to P18. Moreira and Almansa inherited the podium slot. The two of them competed strictly for the runner-up because it was impossible to win with a difference of 7.4 seconds from Suzuki unless the Japanese rider crashed.
Andrea Migno, who replaced Lorenzo Fellon, overtook third from Moreira with two laps remaining. Almansa calmly dealt with the pressure from Migno and Moreira. However, his defense was broken down by the Italian racer.
Closing laps, Migno and Almansa fought hard. However, Almansa was dropped by Scott Ogden who came in between the two drivers. The incident is being investigated by Race Direction. He was also rewarded with a six-second penalty or the equivalent of a double long lap.
Riccardo Rossi, who is in fourth place, fell rolling at Turn 13. After his closest opponent collapsed, the last two podiums were sealed by Moreira and Migno.
Argentina Moto3 race results