Drama for the Championship – again – then followed. With eight laps to go, Arenas had been looking comfortable in the lead group but the Spaniard was down at the fast Turn 11 right-hander. The double 2020 winner took a heavy tumble and headed to the medical centre for a check-up. All this meant the leading two riders in the title race were out, a big opportunity for the likes of McPhee and Suzuki to capitalise.

With six laps to go, Rodrigo was almost down at Turn 9 which gave Suzuki a half-second lead. But within a lap that was diminished as Binder then grabbed P2 from Rodrigo at Turn 5, with Suzuki still leading. It ended up being a six-way scrap for victory in the latter laps as Tony Arbolino (Rivacold Snipers Team) dropped off the pace, as did Fernandez, with birthday boy Deniz Öncü (Red Bull KTM Tech3) crashing at Turn 5.

Could anyone get the better of Suzuki then? McPhee was briefly up to second but ran slightly wide at Turn 6 as Binder got back past the Scotsman, before the Petronas rider was up to second at Turn 8. McPhee was looking to make amends for his final corner crash and on the last lap, the leading quintet were line astern. Binder saw an opportunity to pass McPhee for P2 at Turn 5, but the South African ran wide and slipped to fifth. McPhee was sniffing P1 but there was no way past Suzuki – Turn 13 awaited. Surely a lunge was coming but with last week’s disaster imprinted on McPhee’s mind, the 26-year-old didn’t make a lunge. Neither did third place Vietti as Suzuki won the race to the line to pick up his second Moto3™ win. McPhee picked up 20 vital points as Vietti crossed the line third for his fifth lightweight class rostrum.