Jorge Martin 15th at Phillip Island, Juanfran Guevara DNF

The Moto3 race at Phillip Island featured many crashes and plenty of overtaking. Contested, as expected, with a large group at the front, Exciting overtaking abounded, but eventually the group was narrowed down to six riders fighting for victory.

Miguel Oliveira was the eventual winner, moving up to second in the World Championship, and series leader Danny Kent was among those who crashed out at the Australian track. The podium consisted of Oliveira, Efrén Vázquez and Brad Binder. The penultimate round of the season takes place next weekend at Sepang in Malaysia.

The MAPFRE Team Mahindra riders lacked a bit of luck at Phillip Island, putting in good performances for scant reward. The only one of the three riders who made it to the finish line was Jorge Martín, who started the race by moving up from nineteenth on the grid to twelfth in a single lap.

Although he lost feeling with the rear tyre after the first few laps, he was later able to climb to seventh position. However, two laps later he went down at Turn 4. Fortunately he was able to remount, concluding the race fifteenth and claiming a point.

Juanfran Guevara completed the MAPFRE Team Mahindra riders’ misfortune at Phillip Island. The Spaniard started strongly and soon got into the top ten, but a crash at Turn 6, from which he escaped unharmed, put him out of action within the first third of the race.

15th Jorge Martín:
“Today we have had a positive and negative race at the same time, as whilst I started well, after a few laps the rear tyre lost performance and slid out a lot. That prevented me from following the front group. The good part was the beginning of the race, as I started strong and the risks I took on the first few corners paid off; I passed a lot of riders and reached the leading group. Halfway through the race I started to feel better and that allowed me to climb places, and I was able to fight for seventh place. It’s too bad that at the end, when trying to overtake another rider, I crashed. Although I got back on track, I had lost some time and several positions. At least I picked up a point today and continued to gain experience, which is something positive.”

Juanfran Guevara (DNF):
“We have had a great weekend at Phillip Island -the best all year by far. Today we rode gone very well and we had chances to be amongst the top five. We also showed that all of the MAPFRE Team Mahindra riders had a lot of potential. On the first two laps I tried to use prudence within the group, so as not to crash like what happened to other riders. Then I pushed in order not to lose contact with the front group and, at a certain point, when coming into Turn 6, I tapped the front brake and suddenly lost the front. I did not expect it at all, so I could save the crash. It was a shame, because I had made up many places and was in the lead group.”

Source: Aspar