The Sepang International Circuit grandstands were packed today for the 16th round of the GP championship, whether it’s because three riders could be crowned today (Jorge Lorenzo has less chances to take the MotoGP title) or because Moto3 rider and homeboy Zulfahmi Khairuddin, who turned 21 yesterday and gave himself a maiden pole position as a gift, showed that he wanted to take the victory in front of his legion of fans, however it was Sandro Cortese who would deny Khairuddin his first win and be crowned the 2012 inaugural Moto3 champion.
It was a thrilling race as AirAsia rider got the holeshot follwed by Jonas Folger, Efren Vazquez, Sandro Cortese, Luis Rossi, Danny Kent and Miguel Oliveira, but at the first turn Folger grabbed the lead and immediately tried to break away with Khairuddin following while Luis Salom who had to take off in 10th after taking a five place penalty for taking out Folger at Motegi was already sixth and battling with Rossi and Oliveira.
The race continued with Folger leading but the two KTM riders were on his tail along with Rossi and Salom, but during the sixth lap Rossi would have a massive highside leaving the quartet fighting for the victory.
With 10 laps left in the race Luis Salom took third from Cortese, but the German rider retook the position after a few turns leaving Folger and Khairuddin to escape and just one lap later the rain flag was waved as a few drops began to fall on the track and Salom – who was the only who could deny Cortese’s taking the title and with Vinales dropping out of the championship – had a big moment losing almost a second from the lead riders, with Danny Kent closing in on him.
With seven laps still to go Zulfahmi Khairuddin grabbed the lead from Folger to joy of the cheering Malaysian fans as Kent took overtook Salom for a provision fourth while the two front riders bashed fairings several times during the 12th lap as Cortese kept himself out of trouble in a safe third, but two laps later as the sky turned an even heavier gray, Cortese overtook Folger for second as the Aspar rider seemed to be slightly in trouble.
On the penultimate lap Cortese caught his team mate and began shadowing him as the last lap came up and with just two turns left the German rider attacked and then would out drag Khairuddin – who made a slight mistake on the final turn – to the finish line and win by 0.
028s while taking his fourth victory of the season and the championship title.
Completing the podium with Cortese and Khairuddin was Jonas Folger who took a safe third, as Salom in fourth was more than 8 seconds adrift.
Fifth went to Miguel Oliveira ahead of Danny Kent and Alex Rins.
Efren Vazquez was eighth followed by Niklas Ajo and Adrian Martin closed out the top ten.
Moto3 Sepang Race Results:01- Sandro Cortese – Red Bull KTM Ajo Factory Team – KTM M32 – 18 laps in 40’54.
123 02- Zulfahmi Khairuddin – AirAsia SIC Ajo – KTM M32 – + 0.
028 03- Jonas Folger – MAPFRE Aspar Team Moto3 – KALEX KTM – + 0.
247 04- Luis Salom – RW Racing GP – KALEX KTM – + 8.
503 05- Miguel Oliveira – Team Estrella Galicia 0,0 – Suter Honda MMX3 – + 8.
674 06- Danny Kent – Red Bull KTM Ajo Factory Team – KTM M32 – + 9.
335 07- Alex Rins – Team Estrella Galicia 0,0 – Suter Honda MMX3 – + 18.
973 08- Efren Vazquez – JHK T-Shirt LaGlisse – FTR Honda M312 – + 25.
419 09- Niklas Ajo – TT Motion Events Racing – KTM M32 – + 30.
714 10- Adrian Martin – JHK T-Shirt LaGlisse – FTR Honda M312 – + 30.
763 11- Arthur Sissis – Red Bull KTM Ajo Factory Team – KTM M32 – + 30.
886 12- Brad Binder – RW Racing GP – KALEX KTM – + 31.
019 13- Jack Miller – Caretta Technology – Honda NSF250R – + 31.
225 14- Alex Marquez – Ambrogio NEXT Racing – Suter Honda MMX3 – + 31.
313 15- Niccolò Antonelli – San Carlo Gresini Moto3 – FTR Honda M312 – + 31.
649 16- Jakub Kornfeil – Redox Ongetta Centro Seta – FTR Honda M312 – + 31.
715 17- Alessandro Tonucci – Team Italia FMI – FTR Honda M312 – + 31.
790 18- Alberto Moncayo – Andalucia JHK LaGlisse – FTR Honda M312 – + 32.
147 19- Isaac Vinales – Ongetta Centro Seta – FTR Honda M312 – + 39.
364 20- Romano Fenati – Team Italia FMI – FTR Honda M312 – + 45.
824 21- Alan Techer – Technomag CIP TSR – TSR3 Honda – + 46.
622 22- John McPhee – Caretta Technology – KRP M3-01 Honda – + 46.
672 23- Toni Finsterbusch – Racing Team Germany – Honda NSF250R – + 46.
790 24- Luca Amato – MAPFRE Aspar Team Moto3 – KALEX KTM – + 1’09.
086 25- Josep Rodriguez – MOTO FGR – MOTO FGR 3 Honda – + 1’15.
734 26- Giulian Pedone – Ambrogio NEXT Racing – Suter Honda MMX3 – + 1’33.
717 27- Kenta Fujii – Technomag CIP TSR – TSR3 Honda – + 1’33.
811 28- Armando Pontone – Ioda Team Italia – Ioda TR002 – + 1’54.
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