Vinales triumphs in Mugello thriller

Maverick Vinales closed in on Sandro Cortese in the Moto3 title battle as he edged out local hero Romano Fenati in a spectacular finish at Mugello.

Title rivals Vinales and Cortese were joined by Fenati in a three-bike breakaway in the closing stages.

Team Italia rider Fenati gave it everything to try and upstage the category benchmarks and take a home victory in his rookie season to follow up his Jerez triumph.

The 16-year-old tried around the outside of Vinales’ Avintia FTR at Correntaio on the final lap, then tucked into Vinales and Cortese’s slipstream as they dashed for the finish line. Fenati pulled to the inside of the track and managed to inch ahead of Ajo KTM rider Cortese for second, but fell 0.020 seconds shy of beating Vinales over the line, with Cortese just 0.051s further back.

Another rising Italian star took fourth, as Gresini’s Niccolo Antonelli beat Cortese’s team-mate Danny Kent, Laglisse rider Efren Vazquez and Monlau’s Alex Rins in another spectacular battle. All four had been in the thick of the lead fight until Vinales, Fenati and Cortese broke clear, and the quartet took the flag covered by just 0.118s. Kent had to fight back into this group after a lap two brush with Louis Rossi (Team Germany) in which the Le Mans winner fell.

Jakub Kornfeil claimed eighth for Ongetta, ahead of Zulfahmi Khairuddin – who burst through from seventh on the grid to lead the first half-lap on his Ajo KTM. Veteran Hector Faubel (Aspar) completed the top 10.

Results – 20 laps:
 
Pos  Rider                  Team/Bike                   Time/Gap
  1.  Maverick Vinales       Avintia FTR-Honda         39m57.374s
  2.  Romano Fenati          Italia FMI FTR-Honda        + 0.020s
  3.  Sandro Cortese         Ajo KTM                     + 0.071s
  4.  Niccolo Antonelli      Gresini FTR-Honda           + 5.788s
  5.  Danny Kent             Ajo KTM                     + 5.836s
  6.  Efren Vazquez          Laglisse FTR-Honda          + 5.860s
  7.  Alex Rins              Monlau Suter-Honda          + 5.906s
  8.  Jakub Kornfeil         Ongetta FTR-Honda          + 18.195s
  9.  Zulfahmi Khairuddin    Ajo KTM                    + 19.232s
 10.  Hector Faubel          Aspar Kalex-KTM            + 19.308s
 11.  Niklas Ajo             TT Motion KTM              + 35.855s
 12.  Alexis Masbou          Caretta Honda              + 35.872s
 13.  Adrian Martin          Laglisse FTR-Honda         + 36.175s
 14.  Kevin Calia            Ciatti Honda               + 36.195s
 15.  Michael Ruben Rinaldi  Gabrielli Honda            + 36.270s
 16.  Alessandro Tonucci     Italia FMI FTR-Honda       + 36.285s
 17.  Alan Techer            Technomag-CIP TSR-Honda    + 36.446s
 18.  Toni Finsterbusch      MZ-Honda                   + 36.651s
 19.  Isaac Vinales          Ongetta FTR-Honda          + 51.252s
 20.  Danny Webb             Mahindra                   + 57.030s
 21.  Jack Miller            Caretta Honda              + 57.136s
 22.  Simone Grotzkyj        Ambrogio Suter-Honda       + 57.148s
 23.  Giulian Pedone         Ambrogio Suter-Honda       + 57.151s
 24.  Brad Binder            RW Kalex-KTM             + 1m07.228s
 25.  Kenta Fujii            Technomag-CIP TSR-Honda  + 1m23.679s
 26.  Ivan Moreno            Laglisse FTR-Honda       + 1m31.341s
 27.  Luigi Morciano         Ioda Italia              + 1m55.845s
 
Retirements:
 
     Miguel Oliveira        Monlau Suter-Honda           12 laps
      Jasper Iwema           FGR Honda                     8 laps
      Jonas Folger           Ioda                          6 laps
      Arthur Sissis          Ajo KTM                       4 laps
      Alberto Moncayo        Aspar Kalex-KTM               3 laps
      Luis Salom             RW Kalex-KTM                  3 laps
      Louis Rossi            Germany FTR-Honda              1 lap
      Riccardo Moretti       Mahindra                      0 laps
 

Source: http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/real-world-racing/3rdparty/vinales-triumphs-in-mugello-thriller

Stefan Johansson Eddie Johnson Leslie Johnson Bruce Johnstone