Qatar Moto3: Mir beats McPhee to first win of 2017

Similarly to MotoGP, the starting order of Moto3 was determined by the combined times of the practice session of Thursday and Friday, as the entire Saturday programme was cancelled due to torrential rain.

Gresini's Jorge Martin started from pole as a result, sharing the front row with Phillip Oettl and Romano Fenati.

Martin kept the lead off the line, and spent the early laps at the sharp end of the leading group, which remained crowded throughout the entire race.

Each lap, first place was traded on the main straight, with Mir, Andrea Migno, McPhee, Juanfran Guevara, Fabio di Giannantonio and Fenati all leading for at least one lap.

Leopard's Mir was the first rider able to stay at the top for any meaningful duration, as he led from Lap 13 to 16 before McPhee slipstreamed past to start the final lap in the lead.

However, Mir quickly fought back to lead again after Turn 4, and the Spaniard built just enough of a cushion up front to deny McPhee any chance of a counterattack.

"Amazing race, amazing to win like this. I want to thank my team for my fast bike, it was strong enough to win today. Finally my second victory of my life is amazing," Mir commented after the race.

McPhee scored his first Moto3 podium in a dry race in second, and secured the first top-three finish of the newly-formed British Talent Team.

Martin kicked off his third Moto3 campaign with his second-ever podium, as Estrella Galicia 0,0 rider Aron Canet made it three Spanish riders in the top four.

Romano Fenati took fifth in his first appearance since behind dumped by Sky Racing VR46 last year, followed by fellow Italians Migno (Sky VR46), Niccolo Antonelli (Ajo) and di Giannantonio (Gresini).

Marcos Ramirez (Platinum Bay) was the last rider in the leading group, while Adam Norrodin (SIC) in 10th place finished a further six seconds adrift.

Last year's Moto3 runner-up Enea Bastianini endured a low-key race, only finishing 16th, two places behind Niccolo Bulega on the second VR46 machine.

Race results

Pos.	Driver	Bike	Gap
1	Joan Mir	Honda
2	John McPhee	Honda	0.135
3	Jorge Martin	Honda	0.218
4	Aron Canet	Honda	0.252
5	Romano Fenati	Honda	0.453
6	Andrea Migno	KTM	0.579
7	Niccolo Antonelli	KTM	0.661
8	Fabio Di Giannantonio	Honda	0.878
9	Marcos Ramirez	KTM	1.693
10	Adam Norrodin	Honda	7.904
11	Ayumu Sasaki	Honda	12.221
12	Livio Loi	Honda	16.748
13	Darryn Binder	KTM	16.786
14	Nicolo Bulega	KTM	16.821
15	Tatsuki Suzuki	Honda	16.832
16	Enea Bastianini	Honda	16.943
17	Jules Danilo	Honda	27.583
18	Nakarin Atiratphuvapat	Honda	27.638
19	Kaito Toba	Honda	27.641
20	Jakub Kornfeil	Peugeot	28.034
21	Maria Herrera	KTM	28.150
22	Manuel Pagliani	Mahindra	28.379
23	Lorenzo dalla Porta	Mahindra	28.388
24	Tony Arbolino	Honda	29.520
25	Marco Bezzecchi	Mahindra	54.344
26	Bo Bendsneyder	KTM	1'09.769
Ret	Patrik Pulkkinen	Peugeot	4 laps
Ret	Juan Francisco Guevara	KTM	6 laps
Ret	Philipp Ottl	KTM	6 laps
Ret	Albert Arenas	Mahindra	14 laps