Oliveira Wins, Kent Out So Title Rumbles On

Oct 18, 2015
3 min read

Miguel Oliveira took his fourth win of the season at a dramatic Australian Moto3 Grand Prix which saw championship leader Kent taken out the race.

After losing pole position for riding slowly on the racing line, Danny Kent started the race from seventh place but still went into the race at Phillip Island with a strong chance of claiming the title with main rival Enea Bastianini starting down in 25th. Scotland's John McPhee was promoted to his first career pole position with the only other rider able to deny Kent the title, Miguel Oliveira, starting in second and Kent's teammate Efren Vazquez lined up third on the grid.

The race got underway in usual Moto3 fashion with a huge leading group of more than 10 riders and continuous changes of position mainly into turn one as the riders used the slipstream over the finish line to overtake. At the end of lap one, Oliveira lead from Fenati, Vazquez, Kornfeil, McPhee and Kent. Meanwhile, Bastianini made an excellent start and gained 10 places in the opening lap and a half. The lead changed over almost every lap of the race but it was unfortunately John McPhee that was the first rider to fall from the leading group as he crashed into turn six and took Joan Mir with him on lap six.

Bastianini gained more places and up to eighth by lap nine and that's when the drama really started. Kent was second ahead of Bagnaia but into turn four the latter clipped the rear of Kent's bike and crashed out whilst forcing Kent to run wide and dropped down the field to 16th. Fortunately for Kent the close racing meant he was still in with a chance of a top 10 finish and potentially claim the title. With Bastianini seventh and Oliveira in the lead the order meant the title would not yet be decided. Kent immediately made some great overtakes and was soon back up to an astonishing sixth place.

However, on lap 13 Niccolo Antonelli took out Kent at turn two and as they ran off the track Bastianini was caught in the incident and the two title rivals were forced out the race. That meant Bastianini was no longer in the fight for the championship but with Oliveira still running, a podium would keep the battle open for another weekend at least for the Moto3 crown.

The lead group had depleted to just five riders of Oliveira, Fenati, Binder, Navarro and Vazquez. Fenati took the lead briefly from Oliveira with just six laps remaining and the battling allowed Jakub Kornfeil to join the group. Binder then took the lead before being slipstreamed by Fenati, Navarro and Oliveira. Navarro then slipped to sixth as Kornfeil his the front for a brief moment before Oliveira made his move and took the lead again with just over one lap left.

Oliveira put in a brilliant final lap to edge away from the rest of the leading group which allowed him to not be slipstreamed over the line. The Portuguese rider claimed his fourth win of the season and fourth consecutive top two finish to keep the title alive. With just two races remaining, Oliveira is 40 points adrift of Kent and should Oliveira win next weekend at Sepang, Kent would need to finish in the top five to claim the title else it will rumble on to the final round at Valencia in November.

Kent's Leopard Racing teammate Efren Vazquez secured second place after a great move on Navarro at turn 10 and then slipstreamed Brad Binder over the line. It was Vazquez' first podium since the German Grand Prix whilst Binder held on to a tight third place. Navarro was fourth with Kornfeil finishing fifth after another strong ride. Fenati ended the race in sixth place ahead of Oettl, Vinales, Masbou and home hero Remy Gardner achieving an excellent top 10 finish.

Moto3 Australian Grand Prix Race Result Top 10:

WINNER - MIGUEL OLIVEIRA, 37m34.742s

SECOND - Efren VAZQUEZ, +0.132s

THIRD - Brad BINDER, +0.161s

4th - Jorge NAVARRO, +0.170s

5th - Jakub KORNFEIL, +0.288s

6th - Romano FENATI, +1.006s

7th - Philipp OETTL, +6.200s

8th - Isaac VINALES, +6.253s

9th - Alexis MASBOU, +6.322s

10th - Remy GARDNER, +7.567s.

Full race result available here.