Many were expecting that Sandro Cortese would tie up the 2012 Moto3 inaugural championship title today during the AirAsia Grand Prix of Japan at Motegi, instead the race became a dramatic last lap thriller that saw his Red Bull Ajo Factory team mate Danny Kent claim his first ever victory.
First time pole sitter this season, Kent got the holeshot followed by Zulfahmi Khairuddin, Luis Salom, Jonas Folger, Maverick Vinales, Sandro Cortese, Romano Fenati, Alessandro Tonucci, Alex Rins and Efren Vazquez, but Salom immediately passed Khairuddin and then Kent to take the lead only to have Kent overtake him by the end of the first lap.
The battle continued as Folger grabbed the head of the race trying to break away but Kent wasn’t having it and the two swapped positions several times, while Fenati started to fade as surprising Tonucci moved up to fifth ahead of Vinales and Cortese, as the first four riders Folger, Kent, Salom and Khairuddin try open a slight gap, but the pack regrouped with seven riders in a little more than a second.
With ten laps to go Tonucci gained the third spot with a series of fast laps, while Kent and Folger continued to exchange the lead and heading into the final lap it was still the Aspar rider leading the race and then Luis Salom made his move overtaking both Tonucci and Cortese only to then miss his brake mark and slam right into Folger taking him out of the race, with Cortese thanking his lucky star and already dreaming of winning the championship as he inheriting the lead, with Vinales in fourth, but the race still wasn’t over.
In a decisive attack Kent went past his team mate at the Downhill Straight dragging Tonucci with him and relegating Cortese to third, but in attempt to regain control at the end of 90° Corner the standings leader touched Tonucci’s FTR Honda and crashed out.
Cortese was able to remount to finish a very angry 6th, complaining against his winning team mate during the cool down lapVinales took second after slipping through during the Cortese-Tonucci clash, while the Italian finished third and taking his first ever podium,With the wild finish, Rins and Khairuddin gained fourth and fifth, ahead of Cortese who just managed to limp across the finish line ahead of a tightly knit group lead by Miguel Oliveira, Luis Rossi and Efren Vasquez, while Romano Fenati closed out the top ten.
Moto3 Motegi Race Results:01- Danny Kent – Red Bull KTM Ajo Factory Team – KTM M32 – 20 laps in 40’02.
775 02- Maverick Vinales – Blusens Avintia – FTR Honda M312 – + 0.
260 03- Alessandro Tonucci – Team Italia FMI – FTR Honda M312 – + 2.
352 04- Alex Rins – Team Estrella Galicia 0,0 – Suter Honda MMX3 – + 3.
404 05- Zulfahmi Khairuddin – AirAsia SIC Ajo – KTM M32 – + 3.
645 06- Sandro Cortese – Red Bull KTM Ajo Factory Team – KTM M32 – + 13.
394 07- Miguel Oliveira – Team Estrella Galicia 0,0 – Suter Honda MMX3 – + 15.
523 08- Louis Rossi – Racing Team Germany – FTR Honda M312 – + 15.
739 09- Efren Vazquez – JHK T-Shirt LaGlisse – FTR Honda M312 – + 15.
946 10- Romano Fenati – Team Italia FMI – FTR Honda M312 – + 16.
129 11- Arthur Sissis – Red Bull KTM Ajo Factory Team – KTM M32 – + 16.
223 12- Niccolò Antonelli – San Carlo Gresini Moto3 – FTR Honda M312 – + 16.
371 13- Niklas Ajo – TT Motion Events Racing – KTM M32 – + 28.
368 14- Alex Marquez – Ambrogio NEXT Racing – Suter Honda MMX3 – + 28.
375 15- Jakub Kornfeil – Redox Ongetta Centro Seta – FTR Honda M312 – + 28.
509 16- Hyuga Watanabe – Project μ 7C HARC – Honda NSF250R – + 31.
071 17- Adrian Martin – JHK T-Shirt LaGlisse – FTR Honda M312 – + 40.
292 18- Kenta Fujii – Technomag CIP TSR – TSR3 Honda – + 42.
822 19- Jack Miller – Caretta Technology – Honda NSF250R – + 42.
896 20- Alan Techer – Technomag CIP TSR – TSR3 Honda – + 47.
451 21- John McPhee – Caretta Technology – KRP M3-01 Honda – + 48.
245 22- Luca Amato – MAPFRE Aspar Team Moto3 – KALEX KTM – + 48.
359 23- Isaac Vinales – Ongetta Centro Seta – FTR Honda M312 – + 48.
439 24- Josep Rodriguez – MOTO FGR – MOTO FGR 3 Honda – + 1’03.
762 25- Giulian Pedone – Ambrogio NEXT Racing – Suter Honda MMX3 – + 1’10.
290 26- Danny Webb – Mahindra Racing – Mahindra MGP-3O – + 1’10.
484 27- Yudai Kamei – 18 Garage Racing Team Honda NSF250R – 1 lap
