Race 1 - Qatar
Next Race: 31 March, Argentine GP (Moto 3 Race Start: 2am AEDT on April 1 for Australia)
Photographer: Alex Farinelli
By Marcella Gallace
After waiting 112 days for the MotoGP season to return to our screens, the Moto3 class did not fail to deliver with a season opening race that was won by just 0.053 seconds.
In the early hours of this morning, for Australian viewers that is, a little bit of history was made in Moto3 after Kaito Toba became the first Japanese rider to win a race in Moto3.
Like a swarm of bees buzzing down the straight, Moto3 never ceases to keep the viewer in suspense with just 1.5 seconds separating the first 13 riders in the final lap of the Qatar Grand Prix.
Toba battled against Italian rider, Lorenzo Dalla Porta, using the slipstream on the straight to nip the win by just 0.053 seconds.
It was a fairy tale ending for Toba who is the first Japanese rider to win in the lightweight division since Tomoyoshi Koyama’s 125cc victory at the Catalunya GP in 2007.It is a large accomplishment for the 18-year-old, who under performed last year with a 22nd place season finish with only 37 points.
The underwhelming results raised some eyebrows when Toba’s seat was renewed for 2019, but team Honda Asia wanted to give the youngster one last crack.
It paid off.
Toba first took lead by Lap 13, closely hunted by Dalla Porta, Niccolo Antonelli, Aron Canet and Celestino Vietti Ramus.
As is in Moto3, the pack was led by multiple riders throughout the race, particularly by Dalla Porta and Canet who showed grit from the get go.
Snipers, Romano Fenati who was a hot favourite to win and led at many times made a costly mistake misinterpreting a ‘Track Limits Warning’ as an instruction not a caution.
Fenati followed the penalty that comes with the Track Limits rule and took the penalty loop with just four laps to go.
The mistake saw him lose a second and a half off his lap time and go from fourth position to 13th. He finished the race 9th.
Fenati told BT Sport, “I saw on the dashboard ‘track limits’ with the light, so maybe I don’t understand...not maybe, for sure I don’t understand. Now it’s [like] this.”
On multiple occasions Dalla Porta took front after towing forward, gaining slipstream from behind Canet on the straight.
It became evident early on in the race that the KTM was no match for the Honda on the straight, with the Honda bikes able to use the straight-line speed advantage to overtake on the straight with ease.
This is where Dalla Porta’s gamble on the last lap would backfire.
Dalla Porta, Toba, Marcos Ramirez and Canet all fired into the last lap strong.
Dalla Porta came up the inside of Toba toward the end of the last lap, now leading and thinking he could get good enough drive out of the last corner to sprint to the finish.
But maybe his best bet would have been to stay close behind Toba and use the slipstream to attempt to take the win instead.
It would not pan out for the Italian who was caught by Toba just meters before the finish line to a historical ending to the 2019 season opening.
The podium was shared with a first place Toba, second place Dalla Porta and third place Canet.
Crashes
No rider was severely hurt in crashes.
First Lap: 76 - Yurchenko (23rd of 24) 69 - Booth-amos (24th of 24) 71 - Sasaki (retired) 05 - Masia (retired)
Lap 2: 40 - Binder (retired)
Lap 14: 22 - Masaki (19th of 24) 24 - Suzuki (retired) 07 - Foggia (retired)
Race Results
1. Kaito Toba (JAP) Honda
2. Lorenzo Dalla Porta (ITA) Honda 3. Aron Canet (SPA) KTM 4. Marcos Ramirez (SPA) Honda 5. Celestino Vietti (ITA) KTM 6. Albert Arenas (SPA) KTM 7. Raul Fernandez (SPA) KTM 8. Niccolò Antonelli (ITA) Honda 9. Romano Fenati (ITA) Honda 10. Jakub Kornfeil (CZE) KTM 11. Ai Ogura (JPN) Honda 12. Alonso Lopez (SPA) Honda 13. John McPhee (GBR) Honda 14. Andrea Migno (ITA) KTM 15. Gabriel Rodrigo (ARG) Honda 16. Tony Arbolino (ITA) Honda 17. Vicente Perez (SPA) KTM 18. Can Oncu (TUR) KTM 19. Kazuki Masaki (JPN) KTM 20. Ryusei Yamanaka (JPN) Honda 21. Filip Salac (CZE) KTM 22. Riccardo Rossi (ITA) Honda 23. Makar Yurchenko (KAZ) KTM 24. Tom Booth-Amos (GBR) KTM Tatsuki Suzuki (JPN) Honda Dennis Foggia (ITA) KTM Darryn Binder (RSA) KTM Ayumu Sasaki (JPN) Honda Jaume Masia (SPA) KTM