Maverick Vinales won a brilliant Moto3 race at Mugello, Italy overnight in one of the best races so far from the already reliably entertaining new category.
The first three riders over the finish line were covered by just seven hundredths of a second.
Spanish teenager Vinales beat Italian teenager Romano Fenati by a slender 0.02s, with Sandro Cortese on his KTM in third, a further 0.051s back. Vinales fifth victory of the year moved Vinales to within nine points of Cortese, who had taken the championship lead at last Sunday‰Ûªs German GP.
Niccolo Antonelli lead the second group in fourth place, just ahead of Danny Kent, then Efren Vazquez in sixth and Alex Rins in seventh. Jakub Kornfeil led home the third group in eighth position.
The race for the lead was a classic Mugello slipstreaming battle, with seven riders in the front-running group, chopping and changing at every corner. Then at three-quarters distance Vinales upped his pace, dragging Fenati and Cortese with him.
Cortese grabbed the lead as the trio attacked turn one for the 20th and last time, only to be immediately muscled back to third by the two Honda riders. Fenati now led, but Vinales swept back in front at Arrabbiata One. Cortese dived back into second place at the final turn and then it was a drag race to the chequered flag, won by Vinales by millimetres.
‰ÛÏThis win is really important, coming after our difficult race in Germany last weekend." stated Vinales. "I‰Ûªm really happy."
"It is very difficult to make a gap on the other riders at this track because of the slipstream effect on the big straight." explained the Spanish rider.
"I didn‰Ûªt have a plan! I just did my best and I think I managed the situation well.‰Û
