Qatar Moto3: Antonelli beats Binder by 0.007s in photo finish

Ajo KTM rider Binder looked to have done enough to hang on for his maiden Grand Prix win when he arrived at the start of the final lap with his lead intact, the South African heading a tightly bunched group of seven bikes.

But exiting the final corner, Binder had Antonelli, who had vaulted to second at Turn 1 on the final tour, for company - and the Ongetta Honda rider was able to get the tow to pip his rival to the finish line.

"On the last lap, I knew if I stayed behind Brad I had a chance," said Antonelli. "I'm very happy because it wasn't an easy weekend, I was sick, but today I was better and I could push very hard."

Runner-up Binder commented: "I knew it was gonna be close, either just win it or take second. The last two laps I pushed really hard, and I noticed nobody passed me [before the finish line] so I thought I could hang on."

Just behind the lead duo, Francesco Bagnaia stole an unlikely podium for the Aspar Mahindra team, battling his way through on the final lap to take the Indian marque's best Moto3 result since 2014.

Sky Racing's Romano Fenati had been one of the race's main protagonists, the Italian starting from pole and spending much of the race swapping the lead with Binder.

But the KTM rider blew any chance of victory when he ran wide at the first corner on the final lap, eventually recovering to fourth ahead of Enea Bastianini (Gresini Honda) - a late joiner to the lead group - and Fenati's teammate Niccolo Bulega.

Rookie star Bulega enjoyed a brief spell in the lead with three laps to go, but was ultimately shuffled back to sixth place ahead of Livio Loi (RW Honda), who squandered his front row start when he ran wide at the start of the second lap.

Phillip Oettl (Schedl KTM) and Jakub Kornfeil (SIC Honda) completed the top 10, with Leopard Racing's Fabio Quartararo getting bogged down in the second group of riders early on and ultimately finishing a disappointing 13th after starting third on the grid.

Race results:

Pos	Rider	Bike	Time
1	Niccolo Antonelli	Honda NSF250RW	38:12.161
2	Brad Binder	KTM RC 250 GP	+0.007
3	Francesco Bagnaia	Mahindra MGP30	+0.148
4	Romano Fenati	KTM RC 250 GP	+0.435
5	Enea Bastianini	Honda NSF250RW	+0.606
6	Nicolo Bulega	KTM RC 250 GP	+0.625
7	Jorge Navarro	Honda NSF250RW	+0.674
8	Livio Loi	Honda NSF250RW	+1.710
9	Philipp Oettl	KTM RC 250 GP	+8.611
10	Jakub Kornfeil	Honda NSF250RW	+10.947
11	Jules Danilo	Honda NSF250RW	+12.379
12	Joan Mir	KTM RC 250 GP	+12.380
13	Fabio Quartararo	KTM RC 250 GP	+12.401
14	Bo Bendsneyder	KTM RC 250 GP	+12.726
15	Aron Canet	Honda NSF250RW	+12.784
16	Maria Herrera	KTM RC 250 GP	+12.939
17	Andrea Migno	KTM RC 250 GP	+17.152
18	Hiroki Ono	Honda NSF250RW	+17.367
19	Gabriel Rodrigo	KTM RC 250 GP	+17.451
20	Adam Norrodin	Honda NSF250RW	+17.519
21	Andrea Locatelli	KTM RC 250 GP	+17.566
22	Khairul Idham Pawi	Honda NSF250RW	+17.608
23	Darryn Binder	Mahindra MGP30	+31.939
24	Alexis Masbou	Peugeot MGP30	+31.949
25	Juanfran Guevara	KTM RC 250 GP	+32.120
26	Fabio Di Giannantonio	Honda NSF250RW	+32.333
27	John McPhee	Peugeot MGP30	+32.547
28	Tatsuki Suzuki	Mahindra MGP30	+32.812
29	Stefano Valtulini	Mahindra MGP30	+34.584
30	Karel Hanika	Mahindra MGP30	+59.105
31	Lorenzo Petrarca	Mahindra MGP30	+59.109
32	Fabio Spiranelli	Mahindra MGP30	+1:34.948
R	Jorge Martin	Mahindra MGP30	+1 Lap