The Moto3 championship will conclude this weekend at Portimao with three riders still with a mathematical chance of claiming the title.
| Rider | Points behind 1st place |
| Albert Arenas | – |
| Ai Ogura | 8 |
| Tony Arbolino | 11 |
Arenas ‘simply’ needs to finish ahead of Ogura and Arbolino in order to claim the title. He also has the advantage of having won more races, three, than the other two contenders (Ogura – 0 and Arbolino – 1). This helps the Spaniard were the championship be decided on any sort of countback.
For all the talk about Joan Mir potentially winning the 2020 MotoGP title without being classified in first in any of the Grand Prix, there is a scenario that could see Ogura win the title without achieving a Grand Prix victory. Were Arenas fail to score points in Portugal, Ogura would only need to be classified seventh in order to claim the title, and have Arbolino finish behind him.
Embed from Getty ImagesFor Arbolino to win he ultimately needs to hope that there is a similar result to that of this season’s Valencia Grand Prix, which the Italian won while Arenas finished fourth and Ogura finished down in eighth. With Arbolino only three points behind Ogura he can afford to have the Japanese rider finish second were the Italian to win in Portimao. Arbolino would only need to worry about overhauling Arenas which he would do were the Spaniard to finish fourth or lower.
These are just some amongst the numerous scenarios that could see one particular rider claim this season’s Moto3 title. There are also potential complications such as encountering reliability issues or being taken out of the race by another rider. The latter is something that has already happened to Arenas who was taken out by John McPhee during the Catalan Grand Prix.
The Motorsport Critic 