Jaume Masia has claimed victory in the first Moto3 World Championship race of the 2021 season, beating rookie team-mate Pedro Acosta by +0.042 whilst Darryn Binder claims third.

The first Moto3 race of the 2021 season got underway at a blustery Losail International Circuit, and it didn’t take long for the drama to unfold as Dennis Foggia crashed out spectacularly at turn three after being clipped by Carlos Tatay.

The drama continued right through the race with a crash at turn six ending Deniz Öncü’s season opener. As the riders settled down into a rhythm, it was normal service resumed, with 18 riders filling the leading group. That was until a third lap crash caused by Xavier Artigas, who got it all wrong on the brakes for turn six, wiping out Andrea Migno, Jeremy Alcoba and one of the favourites in John McPhee – ending all of their races.

As the Grand Prix continued, it was Binder, Masia and Acosta who featured towards the front of the pack as the battle went down to the final lap.

A heart-stopping collision on the front straight between Binder and Gabriel Rodrigo really set the tone for the 18-lap race, as the pair collided at full speed before coming together again at turn two, Rodrigo later ran into the back of Masia at turn two, dropping out of podium contention with a handful of laps remaining.

But as the final lap commenced it was Masia who hit the front, with Acosta and Binder following the Spaniard as the trio broke away from the chasing pack.

But the young Red Bull KTM AJO rider held on to his lead after breaking the slipstream and became the only rider all race to keep the lead from the run from the final corner to the start/finish line – with Acosta beating Binder to second.

Fourth place went to Gas Gas’ Sergio Garcia, who put in a promising performance in the manufacturers’ debut, Rodrigo thought back to fifth.

VR46 Academy rider Niccolo Antonelli had a strong start to the season, picking up sixth place with Izan Guevara leading the come-back king Tatsuki Suzuki, who thought back from COVID-19 and a back-of-the-grid start to claim eighth place. Kaito Toba claimed ninth place ahead of Jason Dupasquier who rounded out the top ten.

Romano Fenati was awarded a double long-lap penalty for a jump start, but that didn’t stop the experienced Italian to fight his way back through to 11th place, ahead of Tatay and Filip Salac. The final points-paying positions went in the way of Ryusei Yamanaka and Max Kofler.