Ivan Ortola streaked to a maiden Moto3 victory in the Americas Grand Prix despite a monstrous moment on the opening lap that saw him nearly highside and fall rearwards.
The Angeluss MTA rider made a strong initial start as he challenged for the lead exiting Turn 1 on the first tour, though he lost the rear of his KTM after touching the outer kerb at Turn 2 – the Spaniard extremely lucky to gather his bike back up, albeit having dropped all the way to the back of the field as a result.
The determined Ortola scythed back through the field across the opening half of the encounter though, eventually reaching sixth and joining the top five – which by this point had built a lead over the rest – shortly after.
He then systematically worked his way through the leader until reaching the rostrum spots with only a few circulations remaining, which would swiftly become the leadership after long-time race leader Ayumu Sasaki crashed at Turn 13 and dragged pole-man Jaume Masia out with him.
Ortola lost the lead to an attacking Diogo Moreira as the field began the long back straight at the Circuit of the Americas for the final time, though a crucial error by the Brazilian at Turn 12 allowed Ortola back through to the lead.
With Moreira forced to defend from a recovering Masia over the final few bends, Ortola was thus able to bring home his machine to record a first ever Moto3 success by just 0.457s over Masia, who managed to get the better of Moreira with a bold move at the final corner.
The latter failed to even make the rostrum after Xavier Artigas managed to make the most of the wrong-footed Moreira to snatch away third at the death, while Daniel Holgado completed the top five for the Ajo-run KTM operation.
Deniz Oncu came home a distant sixth after coming out on top of the battle for best of the rest on the final tour, the Turkish pilot passing David Salvador late on to secure the place.
David Alonso narrowly headed GasGas team-mate Ryusei Yamanaka to secure eighth, while Jose Antonio Rueda completed the top ten.
David Munoz failed to score after dropping back to 17th on the final lap, while Leopard Racing’s Tatsuki Suzuki suffered a fast crash at Turn 5 from sixth in the opening stages of the encounter.
Keyword: Ortola survives huge moment to record first Moto3 win at COTA