The World Champion led every lap en route to his seventh win of the Moto3 season.
After taking pole position on Saturday, Moto2-bound Izan Guevara was showing no signs of going quietly into the night. Having won the previous three Spanish rounds, he was the clear favourite to take victory in Valencia.
The polesitter was joined on the front row by KTM Tech3’s Deniz Öncü and Aspar teammate Sergio Garcia, who was battling Dennis Foggia and Ayumu Sasaki for second place in the championship.
As the race began, Guevara led the field down to turn one, immediately trying to breakaway from the swarm of bikes behind him. The Spaniard quickly settled into rhythm with the KTM of Öncü in tow.
The leading pair were evenly matched for pace in the opening laps and Öncü seemed content to tuck in behind Guevara as they pulled away from Garcia in third.
Italian rider Riccardo Rossi ended his season early on lap nine, crashing out at turn six.
With the leading duo two seconds clear of Garcia on lap 10, Öncü appeared to be distracted by something on the bike. He pulled what looked like tape off and discarded it, adding some intrigue to what was an uncharacteristically dull Moto3 race.
On lap 14, turn six claimed another victim as Visiontrack Racing’s Scott Ogden crashed out. A lap later, the Brit was joined by Taiyo Furusato who fell at the same corner. Three laps passed before turn six saw its fourth and final rider fall, as Xavi Artigas lost the front of his CFMOTO machine.
With the race heading towards its conclusion, Foggia lunged from sixth to fourth, passing Sasaki to seal third in the championship standings.
Meanwhile at the front, it was a last-lap showdown between Guevara and Öncü. The Turkish rider showed his hand on turn eight with a stunning move to take the lead for the first time in the race. However the Champion showed his class and composure with a measured pass at the final corner to re-establish his lead and take his seventh win of the 2022 season.
Öncü was second, agonisingly close to his first win in Moto3. Interestingly he managed to finish every race this season, and was the only rider in the class to do so. Garcia came home in third to seal a historic 1-2 in the Championship for Team Aspar.
Foggia held onto fourth to take third in the world standings and Brazilian rider Diogo Moreira was named Rookie of the Year.
Feature Image: MotoGP