Polesitter Lorenzo Dalla Porta (Leopard Racing) didn’t get the launch he would have been looking for as the lights went out as he dropped to third, but Suzuki did. The Japanese rider got the holeshot and immediately pulled out a slight gap on the field as he set about getting into a nice rhythm at the front, with Vietti slotting into second from P3 off the line.

Suzuki had a half-second lead at the end of lap two but that didn’t last long as we had a 10 rider scrap for the lead, with Antonelli and home hero Aron Canet (Sterilgarda Max Racing Team) stalking and jostling Dalla Porta, Suzuki and Vietti in the opening exchanges. However, it was a disastrous opening to the race for two leading protagonists – Gabriel Rodrigo (Kömmerling Gresini Moto3) and Championship leader Jaume Masia (Bester Capital Dubai) crashing out of contention on Lap 1 and Lap 3 respectively.

Back at the front and it was your typical enthralling battle for the lead in Moto3™, with Suzuki and Dalla Porta the two main riders interchanging for P1 in the first quarter of the race. Antonelli was right in the fight but the Italian started to drop down the order as a lead group of 17 formed, Antonelli slipping outside the top 10 in the mid-stages with Marcos Ramirez (Leopard Racing) and Romano Fenati (VNE Snipers) starting to look menacing at the front.

Some argy-bargy occurred between a couple of the riders in the lead group into Turn 6 and with eight laps to go, 17 became 12 as the scraps became a little more aggressive – the win and podium in sight for plenty including Antonelli, who had clawed his way back up to the front. However, there was drama with four to go as second place Ramirez hunted race leader Antonelli and heading into Turn 5, Ramirez hit the back of his fellow Honda rider and crashed out. Incredibly, none of the chasing pack collected Ramirez or his stranded bike – but Fenati was the unlucky one as the Italian had to run off track to take avoiding action, his podium challenge was done.