The Red Bull KTM Ajo rookie puts in another showcase, with Canet second and Fernandez completing the podium.
Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Pedro Acosta was back on top at the Gran Premio Animoca Brands de Aragon, picking up his second Moto2™ win and the first since breaking his left femur in a training accident in June. Flexbox HP40 rider Aron Canet took the chequered flag 2.612 seconds back in second, just edging out Augusto Fernandez (Red Bull KTM Ajo) – but the number 37 extended his lead by three points as Ai Ogura (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia) took fourth.
At the start, Fernandez got the jump from pole position and led the Shimoku GASGAS Aspar Team duo of Jake Dixon and Albert Arenas through the opening corners. San Marino GP winner Alonso Lopez (CAG Speed Up) launched well, but then drama hit as he crashed out and mayhem unfolded behind as Marcel Schrötter (Liqui Moly Intact GP) hit the deck as well, with a number of other riders forced into avoiding action too.
At the front, as Dixon gave chase to Fernandez, Canet passed Arenas on Lap 1, and so did Acosta at the start of Lap 2. Hopes of a fightback were dashed just half a lap later when Arenas crashed at Turn 12 – with both Manuel Gonzalez (Yamaha VR46 Master Camp Team) and Jeremy Alcoba (Liqui Moly Intact GP) joining him on the floor there just moments later in a separate incident.
Fernandez had pulled a second clear of Dixon on Lap 3 as Canet and Acosta traded third position amongst themselves. In a flash, Dixon dropped from second to fifth on Lap 4 when Acosta went past at Turn 12, Canet at Turn 14, and Tony Arbolino (Elf Marc VDS Racing Team) through the sweeping Turn 16/Turn 17 left-hander. Ogura – who started eighth – tried to join the party on Lap 6 at Turn 1, and while he could not make the move stick at that point in time, the Japanese rider was not going to let the Briton off the hook.
Meanwhile, Acosta was catching Fernandez, reducing the margin to less than a second on Lap 7. Even when he ran wide exiting the Reverse Corkscrew on Lap 8 and gifted second place to Canet, they were still catching the pole-sitter. Acosta made up for his error by re-passing Canet at the end of Lap 9, but by then both were on the tail of Fernandez.
On Lap 10, Acosta blazed past his team-mate Fernandez as they ran up the back straight, while it was Arbolino’s Turn to get into a battle with Canet over third . That would ultimately be resolved when ‘Tiger Tony’ ran wide through the Turn 16/Turn 17 sweeper on Lap 11 and let Canet back through.
Acosta was a full second clear of Fernandez on Lap 14, and two seconds up on the World Championship leader after just three laps more, but Canet was stalking Fernandez. He made his move into the Reverse Corkscrew on Lap 19, and never looked back. Forward of him, however, was three seconds’ worth of fresh air with just a handful of kilometres remaining and that was the podium places settled.
Far from settled was the battle for fourth. Ogura had finally passed Dixon for good at Turn 16 back on Lap 15, and set about throwing down the challenge to Arbolino. They chopped and changed position in the final laps, with Ogura going down the inside yet again at Turn 12 on Lap 21. As he did so, Dixon threw away sixth when he slid out, but the Ogura-Arbolino duel raged on. Into the Turn 16/Turn 17 left-hander at the end of the lap, the Italian sent his Marc VDS entry down the inside but could not make the move stick and had to settle for fifth, just 0.067 seconds behind the Japanese rider.
Sixth went to Fermin Aldeguer (CAG Speed Up), from Somkiat Chantra (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia), Jorge Navarro (Flexbox HP40), Joe Roberts (Italtrans Racing Team), and Celestino Vietti (Mooney VR46 Racing Team), the latter of whom inherited 10th as a result of Dixon’s late spill. The rest of the points finishers, from 11th onwards, were Cameron Beaubier (American Racing), Lorenzo Dalla Porta (Italtrans Racing Team), Barry Baltus (RW Racing GP), Alessandro Zaccone (Gresini Racing Moto2™), and Bo Bendsneyder (Pertamina Mandalika SAG Team).
Fernandez might have missed out on victory, but a MotoGP™ contract to ride for GASGAS Factory Racing, a Moto2™ pole position, and a podium which built his World Championship lead is not bad. His margin over Ogura is now seven points, with Canet third at another 30 points behind. Vietti faded further into fourth, with the Italian’s deficit blowing out to 52 points with just five rounds to go.
The next of those is the Motul Grand Prix of Japan, which takes place at Mobility Resort Motegi just next weekend – so make sure to come back for more!
Moto2™ PODIUM
1 Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Ajo) – Kalex – 39’35.337
2 Aron Canet (Flexbox HP40) – Kalex – +2.612
3 Augusto Fernandez (Red Bull KTM Ajo) – Kalex – +3.799
Pedro Acosta: “Finally! Finally, after the injury we’re here. Austria wasn’t so bad, Misano was more difficult but here, when I started I said ‘ah, we can do it’. I can only thank the team, my girlfriend who is here, and all the people who support me every day.
“The difference today was to manage the tyre, maybe. Augusto was super strong in the beginning and it was a bit difficult but I stayed calm, thanks to the team. They give me the comfort to say ‘ok, if today isn’t the day, it isn’t the day’. We have to be calm and not be so good on the good days and not so bad on the bad days.
“At the beginning of the season everyone was like ‘ah, Pedro Acosta will be the Moto2 World Champion’, you know? And maybe that wasn’t the best way to start the season. Ok the first races weren’t so bad, then some zeros in a row and we made a drop. But after Le Mans where we were fast, and Mugello, I think we started on a good way. From Mugello to here we finished all the races I’ve ridden in the top six. The team help me to be calm, more than in my style. To be calm and say ‘if today isn’t the day, it’s not the day, and nothing happens. We’re here to learn and don’t have to do anything crazy to try to win. If today we have to finish fifth, we finish fifth, no problem’. This is maybe the key the team gave me to be calm.”
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