Austin Moto3: Fenati denies Navarro maiden race victory

Fenati converted a second row grid slot into third at the end of the first lap, and made short work of poleman Phillip Oettl on the second tour before setting about closing on early leader Navarro.

The Estrella Galicia man, who has yet to win a grand prix, had established a cushion of 1.6s after two laps, but was soon reeled in by Fenati as Oettl fell into the clutches of a fast-starting Fabio Quartararo further back.

The decisive moment of the race arrived on lap 8, just shy of mid-distance, as Navarro ran wide at Turn 1 to allow Fenati into a lead he would never relinquish.

By lap 13, the gap between the duo had grown to three seconds, Fenati going on to take his seventh race victory in Moto3 by 6.612s at the chequered flag.

Leopard Racing's Quartararo had been on course for the final podium place before he was slowed by a late mechanical problem, meaning the fight for third was between Oettl and points leader Brad Binder (Red Bull Ajo KTM).

The South African rider made the pass stick on his German rival at Turn 12 on the final lap to make it three podiums in three starts this season, Oettl just missing out on equalling his best finish at this level.

Andrea Locatelli completed the top five on the best of the Leopard bikes ahead of Gresini's Enea Bastianini and top rookie Aron Canet aboard the second of the Estrella Galicia bikes.

The trio had been fighting with Niccolo Antonelli, who had carved his way up from P30 on the grid to seventh before crashing out on the penultimate lap.

That promoted Livio Loi (RW Racing) to eighth place ahead of Jules Danilo (Ongetta-Rivacold) and Niccolo Bulega (Sky Racing VR46). Quartararo limped home in 13th place again, having taken the same position at both Qatar and Argentina.

Race results:

Pos	Rider	Team	Bike	Time
1	Romano Fenati	SKY Racing Team VR46	KTM RC 250 GP	41:14.868
2	Jorge Navarro	Estrella Galicia 0,0	Honda NSF250RW	+6.612
3	Brad Binder	Red Bull KTM Ajo	KTM RC 250 GP	+10.535
4	Philipp Oettl	Schedl GP Racing	KTM RC 250 GP	+10.975
5	Andrea Locatelli	Leopard Racing	KTM RC 250 GP	+13.845
6	Enea Bastianini	Gresini Racing Moto3	Honda NSF250RW	+14.123
7	Aron Canet	Estrella Galicia 0,0	Honda NSF250RW	+16.309
8	Livio Loi	RW Racing GP BV	Honda NSF250RW	+21.841
9	Jules Danilo	Ongetta-Rivacold	Honda NSF250RW	+22.004
10	Nicolo Bulega	SKY Racing Team VR46	KTM RC 250 GP	+22.351
11	Jakub Kornfeil	Drive M7 SIC Racing Team	Honda NSF250RW	+22.714
12	Juan Francisco Guevara	RBA Racing Team	KTM RC 250 GP	+22.764
13	Fabio Quartararo	Leopard Racing	KTM RC 250 GP	+26.024
14	Francesco Bagnaia	ASPAR Mahindra Team Moto3	Mahindra MGP30	+28.161
15	Andrea Migno	SKY Racing Team VR46	KTM RC 250 GP	+28.259
16	Alexis Masbou	Peugeot MC Saxoprint	Peugeot MGP30	+39.223
17	Fabio Di Giannantonio	Gresini Racing Moto3	Honda NSF250RW	+39.348
18	Gabriel Rodrigo	RBA Racing Team	KTM RC 250 GP	+39.739
19	Tatsuki Suzuki	CIP-Unicom Starker	Mahindra MGP30	+40.160
20	Khairul Idham Pawi	Honda Team Asia	Honda NSF250RW	+48.107
21	John McPhee	Peugeot MC Saxoprint	Peugeot MGP30	+48.334
22	Bo Bendsneyder	Red Bull KTM Ajo	KTM RC 250 GP	+48.442
23	Maria Herrera	Team Laglisse	KTM RC 250 GP	+1:15.871
24	Lorenzo Petrarca	3570 Team Italia	Mahindra MGP30	+1:16.043
25	Hiroki Ono	Honda Team Asia	Honda NSF250RW	+1:19.441
26	Fabio Spiranelli	CIP-Unicom Starker	Mahindra MGP30	+1:45.929
R	Niccolo Antonelli	Ongetta-Rivacold	Honda NSF250RW
R	Karel Hanika	Platinum Bay Real Estate	Mahindra MGP30
R	Stefano Valtulini	3570 Team Italia	Mahindra MGP30
R	Jorge Martin	ASPAR Mahindra Team Moto3	Mahindra MGP30
R	Darryn Binder	Platinum Bay Real Estate	Mahindra MGP30
R	Joan Mir	Leopard Racing	KTM RC 250 GP
R	Adam Norrodin	Drive M7 SIC Racing Team	Honda NSF250RW