David Alonso looked nailed-on to win the Moto3 Spanish Grand Prix even before it started. H was fastest by almost one second in both of Friday’s dry practices, and the only rider within a second of him in qualifying was David Munoz, the #64 using the two of Alonso to get within two-tenths of the Colombian.

It was Munoz who made the holeshot in Jerez, but when Alonso took the lead at turn six on the first lap it felt immediately like the race would be for second place. But then Alonso crashed at turn 13 – possibly (although not obviously) on one of Jerez’ now-infamous damp patches that proved so perilous in the Spanish MotoGP Sprint – and the race was blown wide open.

Munoz assumed the lead, but he was quickly overcome by Collin Veijer, who led for the majority of the race. Under the Dutchman’s leadership, five riders – Munoz, Ivan Ortola, Ryusei Yamanaka, Joel Esteban, and Joel Kelso – were able to separate themselves to make a front group of six. 

Just after half-distance, Esteban and Kelso dropped off the back of that leading pack. Then, as the race entered its final three laps, Yamanaka dropped off the back and out of contention, leaving only Veijer, Munoz, and Ortola to decide the podium places.

Veijer led from Munoz onto the last lap, and defended perfectly, not missing an apex and not giving an inch on the brakes to the Spaniard behind. Munoz’ biggest weakness was his corner speed through the high-speed right-handers of turns 11 and 12, which meant he was never able to be close enough to Veijer to attack at the final corner.

Veijer’s first victory of the season was accompanied by a first podium of the season for Munoz, while Ivan Ortola rounded out the top three.

Ryusei Yamanaka took what in the end was a fairly lonely fourth place, five seconds clear of the battle for fifth behind.

Esteban and Kelso, having dropped off the lead group in the middle of the race, had fallen into the clutches of the pack that had been fighting for seventh throughout. Esteban led Kelso into the final corner at the head of that fifth-placed battle, but made it two crashes for the CFMoto Aspar team at turn 13, handing fifth to Kelso.

Adrian Fernandez took sixth place, ahead of Dani Holgado, who was fortunate. The biggest winner of the Spanish GP in terms of the championship was Veijer, but he is still 28 points behind Holgado, and although Alonso recovered to 11th the #96 still extended his points lead to six over the #80.

Nicola Carraro was eighth, ahead of his MTA teammate Stefano Nepa, and Angel Piqueras completed the top 10 ahead of the aforementioned Alonso.

Full Moto3 results from the Spanish Grand Prix are below.

2024 Moto3 Spanish Grand Prix | Circuito de Jerez-Angel Nieto | Grand Prix Results | Rd 4/21
Pos	Rider	Nat.	Moto3 Team	Manufacturer	Timing
1	Collin Veijer	NED	Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP	Husqvarna	WIN
2	David Munoz	ESP	BOE Motorsports	KTM	0.045
3	Ivan Ortola	ESP	MT Helmets MSI	KTM	0.871
4	Ryusei Yamanaka	JAP	MT Helmets MSI	KTM	4.849
5	Joel Kelso	AUS	BOE Motorsports	KTM	10.178
6	Adrian Fernandez	ESP	Leopard Racing	Honda	10.353
7	Dani Holgado	ESP	Red Bull GasGas Tech3	GasGas	10.400
8	Nicola Carraro	ESP	MTA Team	KTM	10.647
9	Stefano Nepa	ITA	MTA Team	KTM	11.400
10	Angel Piqueras	ESP	Leopard Racing	Honda	14.885
11	David Alonso	COL	CFMoto Aspar Team	CFMoto	19.152
12	Jacob Roulstone	AUS	Red Bull GasGas Tech3	GasGas	19.921
13	Filippo Farioli	ITA	SIC58 Squadra Corse	Honda	20.423
14	Matteo Bertelle	ITA	Rivacold Snipers Team	Honda	20.541
15	David Almansa	ESP	Rivacold Snipers Team	Honda	20.662
16	Vicente Perez	ESP	Red Bull KTM Ajo	KTM	22.382
17	Taiyo Furusato	JAP	Honda Team Asia	Honda	22.882
18	Riccardo Rossi	ITA	CIP Green Power	KTM	23.186
19	Scott Ogden	GBR	MLav Racing	Honda	25.549
20	Luca Lunetta	ITA	SIC58 Squadra Corse	Honda	32.270
21	Noah Dettwiler	SUI	CIP Green Power	KTM	32.483
22	Xabi Zurutuza	ESP	Red Bull KTM Ajo	KTM	45.346
23	Josh Whatley	GBR	MLav Racing	Honda	45.842
24	Tatchakorn Buasri	MLY	Honda Team Asia	Honda	46.845
25	Tatsuki Suzuki	JAP	Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP	Husqvarna	1L
DNF	Joel Esteban	ESP	CFMoto Aspar Team	CFMoto	DNF