Leopard Racing’s Joan Mir has taken the opening Moto3 victory of the year at Qatar’s MotoGP round with Scotland’s John McPhee bagging his first ever dry-weather podium, taking his British Talent Team Honda to second place with poleman Jorge Martin in third.
Mir led for most of the final lap and didn’t give anyone a sniff of his rear wheel which didn’t allow any of the six riders behind him to get a tow to the line. A wobble from McPhee into the final corner meant he didn’t get the drive to try a move in the slipstream but he had enough speed to keep Martin behind him.
McPhee had plenty of confidence in his pace on used tyres but was in contention for the entire race, leading across the line as the final lap started but Mir just had the edge, passing the Oban man into turn three and never looking back.
“I can’t thank everyone enough. That’s the best way to start the season. I felt strong in the group, I stuck to the plan and it has paid off,” said McPhee in parc ferme.
Aron Canet took fourth place with Romano Fenati, who put down some big moves around the outside at turn one, just didn’t have enough for a podium and finished with a half-second gap to the leader.
Andrea Migno finished sixth, Nico Antonelli seventh, Di Giannantonio eighth, Marcos Ramirez in ninth and Adam Norrodin was tenth.
It was a disaster for title challenger Nico Bulega who could only muster 14th place. The Sky VR46 rider was never in contention and was way down on top speed for the whole race. Enea Bastiannini also continues to struggle as he was outside the points, as was Jules Danilo.
Bo Bendsneyder crashed out early doors after being tagged by Livio Loi but re-mounted to finish stone last while Peter Oettl, who was fast in practice and in the lead group, took out Juanfran Guevera with six laps left to run.
