In a thrilling final Moto3™ encounter in the wet at the Gran Premio Generali de la Comunitat Valenciana it was Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Danny Kent who put in a stunning ride to take victory ahead of Sandro Cortese and Zulfahmi Khairuddin.

Pole-man Jonas Folger had technical issues on the out-lap and had to start from the pits, meaning that it was RW Racing GP’s Luis Salom that led the early exchanges in front of Estrella Galicia 0,0’s Miguel Oliveira and Ambrogio Next Racing’s Alex Márquez. On lap three it was Márquez that went into the lead, with Oliveira following suit to relegate Salom to third. This was however short lived as Márquez lost the front and crashed out.

In the pursuing group, Racing Team Germany’s Louis Rossi was putting on a strong show ahead of JHK t-shirt Laglisse’s Efrén Vázquez and Red Bull KTM Ajo duo of Cortese and Kent. Folger’s day then got worse as he retired from the race, as well as JHK’s Adrián Martín and IodaRacing Project’s Luigi Morciano. Caretta-Technology’s John McPhee was also caught out by the wet as he dropped his bike on lap eight.

Yet as more riders got used to the track surface, the likes of Salom’s teammate Brad Binder starting challenging the front-runners. With 13 laps remaining Salom had dropped off the pace and was embroiled in an entertaining battle with Blusens Avintia’s Maverick Viñales. Past the halfway point and the battles were hotting up with Salom and Viñales, as well as Binder and Kent going fairing-to-fairing.

On lap 15 there was huge drama as Vázquez los the front and took out Oliveira, with Cortese leading comfortably. Four laps later Caretta-Technology’s Jack Miller also put his bike in the gravel, putting an end to his race. Riders were dropping out frequently in the latter stages, as Mahindra Racing’s Danny Webb retired, and Rossi’s teammate Toni Finsterbusch crashed out.

In the final two laps, Cortese’s teammate Danny Kent, AirAsia-SIC-Ajo’s Zulfahmi Khairuddin and Andalucia JHK t-shirt Laglisse’s Héctor Faubel were involved in the podium tussle, which proved nail bighting until the final bends, as Kent put in a stunning move to pass Cortese.

And in the end it was Kent who kept his nerve to take his second victory in front of Cortese and Khairuddin, who recorded his second-ever podium. Fourth spot went to Binder, followed by Faubel, Rossi, Redox-Ongetta-Centro Seta’s Jakub Kornfeil, Viñales, TT Motion Events Racing’s Niklas Ajo and Luis Salom. Salom thereby secured the championship runner-up spot, and with Estrella Galicia 0,0’s Alex Rins finishing ahead of Team Italia FMI’s Romano Fenati, the Spaniard has taken the Rookie of the Year honours.

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