Valencia Moto3: Martin claims dominant maiden victory

Martin has started from pole position nine times this season, but only managed to convert that into a victory for the first time at Valencia.

The Gresini rider had a lighting start off the line and he, along with fellow front-row starters Mir and Gabriel Rodrigo, quickly separated themselves from the rest of the grid.

However, a crash from Rodrigo at Turn 8 on Lap 2 forced Mir to go off-track, the 2017 champion dropping as low as 18th.

With that, Mir was effectively denied a chance to match Valentino Rossi's record of scoring 11 wins in one season in the 125cc/Moto3 class.

Martin inherited a comfortable lead as a result of the incident and was unchallenged until the finish, crossing the line with a gap of 3.7s.

Second place was contested among several riders in typical Moto3 fashion, the fight including a scary crash for Martin's teammate Fabio di Giannantonio.

The Italian hit the back of Marco Ramirez's bike and fell on the main straight, but fortunately managed to escape the incident unscathed.

Reigning CEV Moto3 champion and Valentino Rossi protege Dennis Foggia impressed in only his third Moto3 race, fighting with the frontrunners and holding second place for several laps.

However he, along with the rest of the field, had to surrender to Mir, who completed an impressive recovery to secure second place, his 13th podium of the season.

Platinum Bay's Ramirez matched his best Moto3 result with third, just ahead of Romano Fenati (Marinelli Rivacold Snipers) and Enea Bastianini (Estrella Galicia).

Foggia lost out by running wide and crossed the line in sixth, but was dropped a position to Juanfran Guevara (RBA ROE) due to a penalty for exceeding track limits.

John McPhee (British Talent Team) and Aron Canet (Estrella Galicia) took eighth and ninth ahead of Red Bull Rookies Cup champion Kazuki Masaki, who claimed a top 10 finish on his Moto3 debut.

Race results

Cla	Rider	Bike	Time/Gap
1	Jorge Martin	Honda	40'02.193
2	Joan Mir	Honda	3.760
3	Marcos Ramírez	KTM	3.877
4	Romano Fenati	Honda	3.953
5	Enea Bastianini	Honda	3.999
6	Juan Francisco Guevara	KTM	4.940
7	Dennis Foggia	KTM	4.735
8	John McPhee	Honda	5.071
9	Aron Canet	Honda	5.218
10	Kazuki Mazaki	Honda	6.462
11	Tatsuki Suzuki	Honda	6.544
12	Bo Bendsneyder	KTM	6.633
13	Ayumu Sasaki	Honda	8.687
14	Niccolo Antonelli	KTM	16.100
15	Philipp Ottl	KTM	16.156
16	Andrea Migno	KTM	16.263
17	Adam Norrodin	Honda	16.398
18	Jakub Kornfeil	Peugeot	33.128
19	Jules Danilo	Honda	33.807
20	Lorenzo Dalla Porta	Mahindra	34.360
21	Nakarin Atiratphuvapat	Honda	34.629
22	Manuel Pagliani	Mahindra	34.403
23	Albert Arenas	Mahindra	34.958
24	Kaito Toba	Honda	35.730
25	Tony Arbolino	Honda	39.331
26	Maria Herrera	Mahindra	46.209
27	Livio Loi	Honda	51.534
28	Marco Bezzecchi	Mahindra	1'17.109
29	Patrik Pulkkinen	Peugeot	1 lap
	Fabio Di Giannantonio	Honda	17 laps
	Gabriel Rodrigo	KTM	22 laps