Jorge Martín makes up eleven positions to steal eighth in Argentina

A Moto3 race in Argentina that was declared wet from the start saw Malaysian rider Khairul Idham Pawi make history as the first ever Grand Prix winner from his country as his compatriot Adam Norrodin narrowly missed out on making it an incredible one-two with a crash in the final corner. Norrodin managed to push his bike over the line to take points in eleventh place, the dramatic final chapter of an eventful race that saw all of the riders head out on slick tyres apart from Livio Loi, who attempted a repeat of his heroics at Indianapolis last year on wets. However, the lack of rain handed the initiative to the sensational Pawi, who finished with a 26-second advantage over the eventual second-placed Jorge Navarro. South Africa's Brad Binder, who started from pole, was the main beneficiary of Norrodin's crash as he moved into the final podium position in third.
After a wet warm-up session that saw both Aspar Mahindra riders inside the top ten the promise of a repeat result in the race faded as the skies cleared. Jorge Martín still made a strong start to the race and was up to fifth place after just two laps, the Spanish youngster staying in the podium hunt for several laps but eventually being forced to settle for eighth due to an ongoing gearbox issue. Martín came within touching distance of the career-best seventh place he scored at Aragón last year, although his team-mate Pecco Bagnaia was unable to mount a similar charge as he crossed the line in 23^rd.


8^th Jorge Martín “After a weekend that hasn't been positive, we managed to make up for it in the race. The conditions were very difficult today and I had to take a lot of care because there were some very damp patches, but we decided to go out with slick tyres and it was the right choice. We have had problems all weekend with the gearbox and the race was no different, we were struggling from the fifth lap and it has prevented us from finishing even higher up today. In any case I am happy with eighth, it almost matches my best result so hopefully we can repeat it or improve it in Austin. The Canet crash was difficult to manage, I didn't know which way to go because he went one way and the bike another, so that was tricky but thankfully I managed to dodge him.”

23^rd Pecco Bagnaia: “That was maybe one of my toughest ever races. I went really well in the wet this morning but then the track dried and I wasn't even able to make a single good lap. It has been a difficult weekend since the start and in the race I found it tough to get going. Even though I improved in the end I wasn't able to run with the front guys or do any better than 23^rd because I was losing so much down the straight. Luckily the top few guys in the championship didn't have a great race so I am still fifth and I will try to do better in Austin”.