Luis Salom snatches thrilling Moto3 win in Indianapolis

Spaniard Luis Salom produced a stunning final lap to claim his maiden Grand Prix victory after a thrilling end to today’s Indianapolis Moto3 clash.

Salom produced a daring pass on the final lap to sweep by title contenders Maverick Vinales and Sandro Cortese and he held his nerve under intense pressure to collect his first win in his 53rd Grand Prix appearance.

Salom denied German Cortese his third win of the season by just 0.056s but the Red Bull KTM rider won’t be too unhappy after a costly late blunder by closest title rival Vinales on the last lap.

The Spaniard was lying in second place and pursuing Salom when he lost the front-end of his FTR-Honda machine.

Unable to re-join the 23-lap race, Vinales handed the title initiative to Cortese, who now heads to next weekend’s Brno race in the Czech Republic with a healthy 29-point lead in the world championship.

The last lap error by Vinales gifted Jonas Folger a podium on his first appearance for the Aspar squad after he held of Miguel Oliveira by just 0.127s.

British rider Danny Kent had led the first lap after starting from the front row for the third time in four races before he dropped back to a disappointing 12th place. Kent quickly lost grip with his softer Dunlop front tyre choice and had no confidence to keep pushing at his blistering early pace.

Danny Webb didn’t start the race after he withdrew following this morning warm-up session.

The Mahindra rider fell heavily in qualifying yesterday afternoon and after complaining of pain after the warm-up session it was found he had a small break in his right wrist close to the troublesome scaphoid bone.Rather than risk further damage he opted to withdraw to try and recover as much strength as possible for next weekend’s Brno round.

1	25	39	Luis SALOM	SPA	RW Racing GP	Kalex KTM	137.7	42’14.300
2	20	11	Sandro CORTESE	GER	Red Bull KTM Ajo	KTM	137.7	+0.056
3	16	94	Jonas FOLGER	GER	Mapfre Aspar Team Moto3	Kalex KTM	137.6	+2.940
4	13	44	Miguel OLIVEIRA	POR	Estrella Galicia 0,0	Suter Honda	137.6	+3.067
5	11	5	Romano FENATI	ITA	Team Italia FMI	FTR Honda	137.5	+3.664
6	10	63	Zulfahmi KHAIRUDDIN	MAL	AirAsia-Sic-Ajo	KTM	137.3	+7.663
7	9	42	Alex RINS	SPA	Estrella Galicia 0,0	Suter Honda	137.3	+7.697
8	8	84	Jakub KORNFEIL	CZE	Redox-Ongetta-Centro Seta	FTR Honda	137.1	+11.203
9	7	23	Alberto MONCAYO	SPA	Andalucia JHK Laglisse	FTR Honda	137.1	+11.242
10	6	10	Alexis MASBOU	FRA	Caretta Technology	Honda	137.0	+13.16