Tag: Ai Ogura

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Moto2: Chantra Takes First Win of Season

Somkiat Chantra won the Japanese Grand Prix from local rider and teammate Ai Ogura. Pedro Acosta extended his championship lead by finishing in third place. His closest championship rival, Tony Arbolino, finished down the order in eleventh place.

Alonso Lopez had a double long lap penalty to serve during the race due to irresponsible riding in the Indian GP.

Chantra had a good start from pole position as did Jake Dixon, but it was the Thai rider who was leading into the first corner. Aron Canet sent Acosta out wide through turn one and further down the field Fermin Aldeguer ran wide. The Beta Tools SpeedUp rider had to sit up and went through part of the long lap loop.

Even with the knowledge of the long lap penalties, Lopez improved from sixth place to the final step of the podium through the first set of corners. Sam Lowes also had a successful first lap improving to fifth.

Lopez and Ogura got past Dixon and continued to catch up to Chantra who started to break away from the rest of the field. Acosta also started to make placed up following his poor start.

On lap three, Ogura passed Lopez for second place, but the Spanish rider still had both of his long lap penalties to take so would not be staying in the top three for much longer. Chantra continued to extend his lead out at the front to 1.6s.

Acosta got past Dixon on the following lap at turn two after looking for a way past the Brit for over half a lap.

Lopez took his long lap loops on laps five and six and those dropped him down the order and he would need to make multiple moves to finish the race on the podium.

Filip Salac ran wide on the seventh lap, and this allowed Lowes to get past him, but the Elf Marc VDS Racing Team crashed at turn 14 on the same lap. Joe Roberts also went wide on lap seven but kept himself on the bike.

Aldeguer ran wide on lap nine and one of the local riders, Kohta Nozane, crashed on the same lap at turn ten. On the following lap, Sergio Garcia crashed at turn three.

Ogura slowly started cutting into the lead that his teammate had made in the first laps but was unable to catch up to the Thai rider who crossed the line to take his first win of the season. Acosta rounded out the podium and extended his championship lead to 50 points with six rounds to go.

Dixon finished in fourth place ahead of Salac and Manuel Gonzalez. Marcos Ramirez crossed the line in seventh place, followed by Canet and Zonta van der Goorbergh. Darryn Binder rounded out the top ten.

Acosta’s closest championship rival Arbolino began dropping down the order towards the end of the race due to losing grip in his front tyre meaning he could only cross the line in eleventh place.

Feature Image Credit: Autosport

JAPANESE MOTO2 GRAND PRIX, MOTEGI – RACE RESULTS
POS RIDER NAT TEAM BIKE TIME
1 Somkiat Chantra THA IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia (Kalex) 35m 19.273s
2 Ai Ogura JPN IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia (Kalex) 35m 20.626s
3 Pedro Acosta SPA Red Bull KTM Ajo (Kalex) 35m 22.353s
4 Jake Dixon GBR Inde GASGAS Aspar Team (Kalex) 35m 24.338s
5 Filip Salac CZE QJMOTOR Gresini Moto2 (Kalex) 35m 29.765s
6 Manuel Gonzalez SPA Correos Prepago Yamaha VR46 (Kalex) 35m 32.234s
7 Marcos Ramirez SPA OnlyFans American Racing (Kalex) 35m 33.625s
8 Aron Canet SPA Pons Wegow Los40 (Kalex) 35m 35.633s
9 Zonta Vd Goorbergh NED Fieten Olie Racing GP (Kalex) 35m 36.965s
10 Darryn Binder RSA Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP (Kalex) 35m 38.678s
11 Tony Arbolino ITA Elf Marc VDS Racing Team (Kalex) 35m 39.934s
12 Joe Roberts USA Italtrans Racing Team (Kalex) 35m 40.082s
13 Alonso Lopez SPA Beta Tools SpeedUp (Boscoscuro) 35m 40.576s
14 Izan Guevara SPA Inde GASGAS Aspar Team (Kalex) 35m 40.750s
15 Barry Baltus BEL Fieten Olie Racing GP (Kalex) 35m 43.305s
16 Jeremy Alcoba SPA QJMOTOR Gresini Moto2 (Kalex) 35m 44.896s
17 Bo Bendsneyder NED Pertamina Mandalika SAG Team (Kalex) 35m 46.076s
18 Albert Arenas SPA Red Bull KTM Ajo (Kalex) 35m 46.644s
19 Taiga Hada JPN Pertamina Mandalika SAG Team (Kalex) 35m 48.685s
20 Alberto Surra ITA Forward Team (Forward) 35m 53.098s
21 Senna Agius AUS Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP (Kalex) 35m 53.376s
22 Fermín Aldeguer SPA Beta Tools SpeedUp (Boscoscuro) 35m 53.564s
23 Sean Dylan Kelly USA Forward Team (Forward) 35m 55.746s
24 Borja Gomez SPA Fantic Racing (Kalex) 35m 58.908s
25 Rory Skinner GBR OnlyFans American Racing (Kalex) 36m 2.342s
26 Mattia Casadei ITA Fantic Racing (Kalex) 36m 4.781s
  Sergio Garcia SPA Pons Wegow Los40 (Kalex) DNF
  Dennis Foggia ITA Italtrans Racing Team (Kalex) DNF
  Kohta Nozane JPN Correos Prepago Yamaha VR46 (Kalex) DNF
  Sam Lowes GBR Elf Marc VDS Racing Team (Kalex) DNF

 

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Moto2: Dixon Takes First Pole of the Season

Jake Dixon takes his first pole of the season at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya from Aron Canet and Ai Ogura. Championship leader Pedro Acosta was only able to manage ninth place for tomorrow’s grid and his closest challenger in Tony Arbolino was unable to get himself out of the first qualifying session.

The first qualifying session was uneventful with Somkiat Chantra, Sergio Garcia, Filip Salac and Barry Baltus occupying the top four positions for at the end of the session. The early pace setter in this session was Bo Bendsneyder but dropped down to fifth, meaning he will start tomorrow’s race from 19th.

Arbolino was unable to set a time fast enough to progress due to the bike looking unstable on his last lap, meaning he needed to come into the pits and bail out of the lap.

The four riders who came up through Q1 set the initial pace at the start of the second qualifying session with Salac topping the times after the first runs. Following the second set of fast laps Ogura had set the fastest time followed by Albert Arenas and rookie Sergio Garcia.

With over half the session to go, Joe Roberts and Alonso Lopez had not set a representative lap time.

Acosta and Dixon circulated around the track together towards the end of the session, offering each other a tow on alternating fast laps. With the Brit following the Spaniard, Dixon set the fastest time during the qualifying session, a 1:43.983. After swapping places, Acosta was being led around by Dixon, but the Red Bull KTM Ajo rider exceeded track limits, meaning that his lap was deleted.

Canet was also riding around the circuit with a partner, Manuel Gonzalez. This pair helped each other to achieve second and fourth place respectively. On the other hand, Ogura spent most of his time on the track alone but was still able to achieve third place.

That quick time from Arenas set earlier in the session was the quickest time he was able to achieve, and this was good enough to place him in fifth place on tomorrow’s grid.

The highest-placed non-Kalex rider was Fermin Aldeguer in sixth place, followed by his teammate Lopez. Garcia was the highest qualifying rookie in eighth place, being the only rookie to make it through to the second round of qualifying,

Due to having a fast time deleted due to track limits, Acosta only starts in ninth place on the grid tomorrow. Baltus rounds out the top ten on the grid tomorrow.

Sam Lowes was unable to set a lap time fast enough to break into the top ten and is joined by Chantra on the fourth row of the grid. The fifth row of the grid contains Salac, Roberts and Celestino Vietti, who struggled to set fast times around the Spanish circuit.

Tomorrow’s race is shaping up to be an exciting 21 laps with Acosta having to work his way through the field to continue extending his championship lead.

Feature Image Credit: @AsparTeam on X (https://twitter.com/AsparTeam)

2023 CATALUNYA MOTO2 GRAND PRIX, BARCELONA – QUALIFYING RESULTS
POS RIDER NAT TEAM BIKE TIME
1 Jake Dixon GBR Asterius GASGAS Aspar Team (Kalex) 1m 44.089s
2 Aron Canet SPA Pons Wegow Los40 (Kalex) 1m 44.184s
3 Ai Ogura JPN IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia (Kalex) 1m 44.214s
4 Manuel Gonzalez SPA Correos Prepago Yamaha VR46 (Kalex) 1m 44.215s
5 Albert Arenas SPA Red Bull KTM Ajo (Kalex) 1m 44.270s
6 Fermín Aldeguer SPA Beta Tools SpeedUp (Boscoscuro) 1m 44.276s
7 Alonso Lopez SPA Beta Tools SpeedUp (Boscoscuro) 1m 44.344s
8 Sergio Garcia SPA Pons Wegow Los40 (Kalex) 1m 44.374s
9 Pedro Acosta SPA Red Bull KTM Ajo (Kalex) 1m 44.374s
10 Barry Baltus BEL Fieten Olie Racing GP (Kalex) 1m 44.419s
11 Sam Lowes GBR Elf Marc VDS Racing Team (Kalex) 1m 44.458s
12 Somkiat Chantra THA IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia (Kalex) 1m 44.470s
13 Filip Salac CZE QJMOTOR Gresini Moto2 (Kalex) 1m 44.490s
14 Joe Roberts USA Italtrans Racing Team (Kalex) 1m 44.682s
15 Celestino Vietti ITA Fantic Racing (Kalex) 1m 44.838s
16 Jeremy Alcoba SPA QJMOTOR Gresini Moto2 (Kalex) 1m 44.906s
17 Zonta Vd Goorbergh NED Fieten Olie Racing GP (Kalex) 1m 44.983s
18 Marcos Ramirez SPA OnlyFans American Racing (Kalex) 1m 45.202s
19 Bo Bendsneyder NED Pertamina Mandalika SAG Team (Kalex) 1m 44.930s
20 Tony Arbolino ITA Elf Marc VDS Racing Team (Kalex) 1m 45.021s
21 Senna Agius AUS Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP (Kalex) 1m 45.104s
22 Lukas Tulovic GER Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP (Kalex) 1m 45.220s
23 Dennis Foggia ITA Italtrans Racing Team (Kalex) 1m 45.248s
24 Borja Gomez SPA Fantic Racing (Kalex) 1m 45.314s
25 Rory Skinner GBR OnlyFans American Racing (Kalex) 1m 45.607s
26 Mattia Rato ITA Pertamina Mandalika SAG Team (Kalex) 1m 45.784s
27 Alberto Surra ITA Forward Team (Forward) 1m 45.905s
28 Izan Guevara SPA Asterius GASGAS Aspar Team (Kalex) 1m 45.950s
29 Kohta Nozane JPN Correos Prepago Yamaha VR46 (Kalex) 1m 45.983s
30 Yeray Ruiz SPA Forward Team (Forward) 1m 46.321s

 

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Moto2: Vietti Takes First Win of Season

Celestino Vietti fought hard with Pedro Acosta to take his first win in Moto2 since the Catalan GP in 2022. Ai Ogura completed the podium with championship contender Tony Arbolino crossing the line in sixth place.

The race started strongly for Ogura after making a fantastic start, but this was overshadowed by Jake Dixon who slotted himself into second place when the pack reached turn one. Dixon attempted to continue his rise up the field by looking to overtake Acosta but was unable to do so.

Arbolino was able to make his way to fourth place and Vietti dropped to fifth place. On the second lap, Arbolino ran wide at the chicane and Vietti was able to get past him.

At turn three on lap three, there was a crash between Sam Lowes and Darryn Binder which resulted in the South African rider being taken to the medical centre and being declared unfit due to fractured vertebrae.

Acosta started to pull away from Dixon and Ogura at the front of the field, extending his lead to around one second and was setting consistent fastest laps with no pressure from the riders behind him.

Both Alonso Lopez and Albert Arenas crashed on the fifth lap at turns two and three respectively. On the same lap, Ogura was able to get past Dixon to take second place.

Acosta was able to increase his lead to Ogura and Dixon to almost two seconds due to the pair fighting each other over second place. Ogura made a mistake on lap seven to allow Dixon to get past him at turn three, but the Japanese rider was able to get back at him at the next corner. Vietti joined the fighting pair in the hunt to catch Acosta.

Manuel Gonzalez crashed at the third corner on lap eight causing a yellow flag in that sector.

With Dixon back in third place, Vietti started to look for places to overtake the Brit and was able to into turn one on the ninth lap with the Italian rider taking the inside line. Ogura started to reduce the gap to the leader Acosta, whilst the battle for third occurred behind him.

Somkiat Chantra also caught up to the chasing group by lap ten. On the same lap, Joe Roberts crashed at turn three. The American rider retired on lap thirteen.

Arenas had a second crash at turn six on lap eleven and Aron Canet also crashed on that lap but at turn nine.

By lap thirteen, Vietti was on the back of Ogura and was looking to make a move past the IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia rider and was able to on the straight just before turn four. Ogura tried to make the move back on the Fanatic Racing rider over the start-finish straight but was unable to.

The front tire on Acosta’s bike started to go away from him and he began making mistakes, allowing Vietti to catch up to him. The gap reduced from two seconds to just under half a second. This was not helped by Acosta receiving a track limits warning.

Lap 18 was the lucky lap for Vietti as he was able to get past Acosta to take the lead at turn six. The Italian rider kept Acosta behind him, using the defensive line but Acosta was able to stay on his rear tyre. Vietti and Acosta began to break away from Ogura behind them, creating a three second gap.

By lap 21, Acosta was really struggling with his front tyre and this resulted in a wobble at turn nine and this caused him to lose some time to the leader.

Vietti crossed the line with a 1.5 second lead over Acosta who in turn had a 3.5s gap to Ogura. Dixon finished the race in fourth place with Chantra and Arbolino followed the Brit. Filip Salac had a good race ending it in seventh place, followed by Sergio Garcia, Fermin Aldeguer and Lukas Tulovic who rounded out the top ten.

Feature Image Credit: Joel Cooper Photography LTD

AUSTRIAN MOTO2 GRAND PRIX, RED BULL RING – RACE RESULTS
POS RIDER NAT TEAM BIKE TIME
1 Celestino Vietti ITA Fantic Racing (Kalex) 36m 25.093s
2 Pedro Acosta SPA Red Bull KTM Ajo (Kalex) 36m 26.528s
3 Ai Ogura JPN IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia (Kalex) 36m 30.282s
4 Jake Dixon GBR Autosolar GASGAS Aspar Team (Kalex) 36m 31.238s
5 Somkiat Chantra THA IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia (Kalex) 36m 33.728s
6 Tony Arbolino ITA Elf Marc VDS Racing Team (Kalex) 36m 39.147s
7 Filip Salac CZE QJMOTOR Gresini Moto2 (Kalex) 36m 39.585s
8 Sergio Garcia SPA Pons Wegow Los40 (Kalex) 36m 41.538s
9 Fermín Aldeguer SPA CAG SpeedUp (Boscoscuro) 36m 42.271s
10 Lukas Tulovic GER Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP (Kalex) 37m 0.454s
11 Dennis Foggia ITA Italtrans Racing Team (Kalex) 37m 2.948s
12 Jeremy Alcoba SPA QJMOTOR Gresini Moto2 (Kalex) 37m 4.644s
13 Izan Guevara SPA Autosolar GASGAS Aspar Team (Kalex) 37m 5.306s
14 Marcos Ramirez SPA OnlyFans American Racing (Kalex) 37m 5.503s
15 Bo Bendsneyder NED Pertamina Mandalika SAG Team (Kalex) 37m 6.191s
16 Borja Gomez SPA Fantic Racing (Kalex) 37m 8.539s
17 Alberto Surra ITA Forward Team (Forward) 37m 10.111s
18 Rory Skinner GBR OnlyFans American Racing (Kalex) 37m 12.715s
19 Mattia Rato ITA Pertamina Mandalika SAG Team (Kalex) 37m 14.954s
20 Kohta Nozane JPN Correos Prepago Yamaha VR46 (Kalex) 37m 22.132s
21 Alonso Lopez SPA CAG SpeedUp (Boscoscuro) 37m 34.357s
22 Zonta Vd Goorbergh NED Fieten Olie Racing GP (Kalex) 37m 35.607s
  Joe Roberts USA Italtrans Racing Team (Kalex) DNF
  Aron Canet SPA Pons Wegow Los40 (Kalex) DNF
  Albert Arenas SPA Red Bull KTM Ajo (Kalex) DNF
  Manuel Gonzalez SPA Correos Prepago Yamaha VR46 (Kalex) DNF
  Darryn Binder RSA Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP (Kalex) DNF
  Sam Lowes GBR Elf Marc VDS Racing Team (Kalex) DNF

 

 

 

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Moto2: Acosta Grabs Third Pole of the Season

After two deleted lap times, Pedro Acosta took his third pole position of the year around the Red Bull Ring in Austria. He is joined on the front row with Ai Ogura and Celestino Vietti.

The first round of qualifying got underway, and all the riders came out of the pits, trying to set a time to get themselves into the top four to try and qualify in the top 18. The top four stayed relatively consistent throughout the session and Sergio Garcia ended the session at the top.

Garcia was joined by Lukas Tulovic, Dennis Foggia and Darryn Binder who all made it through to the second round of qualifying.

All riders except Ogura and Tulovic went out as soon as the second session started to try and take advantage of the track being sightly empty. Jake Dixon placed himself in a good spot behind Somkiat Chantra, who really enjoys riding around this circuit, for his first run.

A brief yellow flag came out when Acosta crashed at the chicane, but he and his bike were both okay, meaning that he could continue touring the circuit. The Spaniard started to turn up the intensity by setting the fastest second and third sectors before pitting to let his team check his bike.

The first representative lap time was set by Vietti and it was a 1:34.698, which was slower than lap times set in the morning practice session due to the increase in the track temperature.

Aron Canet also crashed at the chicane but was also able to continue.

On his final flying lap of the first part of the session, Vietti was able to improve on his own time by two tenths, solidifying his position at the top of the pile.

Albert Arenas at the Austrian 2023 Moto2 Qualifiying. Image courtesy of KTM/Rob Gray (Polarity Photo)

At the halfway point, all the riders came into the pits to discuss changes with their bikes and ensure that they knew the run plan for the second half of the session.

The riders started to come out of the pits, but Ogura had left the pits early and was able to set the fastest time of the session. But he would not be holding on to the top spot for long as Acosta came out of the pits with a point to prove after his earlier crash.

His first flying lap contained three of the fastest sectors of the session and he jumped to the top of the pile setting a 1:34.040 with just two minutes to go.

With less than a minute to go, Sam Lowes crashed at turn ten bringing out a yellow flag which caused various lap times to be deleted including one for Acosta which was down into the 1:33’s.

Alonso Lopez crashed at turn one bringing out a yellow flag but most riders had already set their fastest time, meaning that it did not impact anyone significantly.

Acosta, Ogura and Vietti will start the race from the front row and Dixon, Chantra and Fermin Aldeguer will be on the second row of the grid. The third row of the grid is populated with Tony Arbolino, who needs to score some points to ensure that Acosta does not begin to get out of touch in the championship, Albert Arenas and Manuel Gonzales. Canet rounds out the top ten.

Feature image credit: KTM/Rob Gray (Polarity Photo)

2023 AUSTRIAN MOTO2 GRAND PRIX, RED BULL RING – QUALIFYING RESULTS
POS RIDER NAT TEAM BIKE TIME
1 Pedro Acosta SPA Red Bull KTM Ajo (Kalex) 1m 34.040s
2 Ai Ogura JPN IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia (Kalex) 1m 34.311s
3 Celestino Vietti ITA Fantic Racing (Kalex) 1m 34.445s
4 Jake Dixon GBR Autosolar GASGAS Aspar Team (Kalex) 1m 34.532s
5 Somkiat Chantra THA IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia (Kalex) 1m 34.590s
6 Fermín Aldeguer SPA CAG SpeedUp (Boscoscuro) 1m 34.639s
7 Tony Arbolino ITA Elf Marc VDS Racing Team (Kalex) 1m 34.728s
8 Albert Arenas SPA Red Bull KTM Ajo (Kalex) 1m 34.737s
9 Manuel Gonzalez SPA Correos Prepago Yamaha VR46 (Kalex) 1m 34.857s
10 Aron Canet SPA Pons Wegow Los40 (Kalex) 1m 34.859s
11 Alonso Lopez SPA CAG SpeedUp (Boscoscuro) 1m 35.045s
12 Filip Salac CZE QJMOTOR Gresini Moto2 (Kalex) 1m 35.048s
13 Zonta Vd Goorbergh NED Fieten Olie Racing GP (Kalex) 1m 35.082s
14 Sam Lowes GBR Elf Marc VDS Racing Team (Kalex) 1m 35.197s
15 Darryn Binder RSA Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP (Kalex) 1m 35.209s
16 Sergio Garcia SPA Pons Wegow Los40 (Kalex) 1m 35.311s
17 Dennis Foggia ITA Italtrans Racing Team (Kalex) 1m 35.605s
18 Lukas Tulovic GER Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP (Kalex) 1m 35.676s
19 Izan Guevara SPA Autosolar GASGAS Aspar Team (Kalex) 1m 35.222s
20 Bo Bendsneyder NED Pertamina Mandalika SAG Team (Kalex) 1m 35.289s
21 Joe Roberts USA Italtrans Racing Team (Kalex) 1m 35.304s
22 Borja Gomez SPA Fantic Racing (Kalex) 1m 35.316s
23 Marcos Ramirez SPA OnlyFans American Racing (Kalex) 1m 35.349s
24 Rory Skinner GBR OnlyFans American Racing (Kalex) 1m 35.380s
25 Jeremy Alcoba SPA QJMOTOR Gresini Moto2 (Kalex) 1m 35.554s
26 Alberto Surra ITA Forward Team (Forward) 1m 35.675s
27 Kohta Nozane JPN Correos Prepago Yamaha VR46 (Kalex) 1m 35.919s
28 Mattia Rato ITA Pertamina Mandalika SAG Team (Kalex) 1m 36.125s

 

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Moto2: Dixon Races to First Grand Prix Win

Jake Dixon takes his first-ever Grand Prix win at Assen after an incredible race. He was joined by Ai Ogura and Pedro Acosta on the podium.

Both Alonso Lopez and Ogura had a good start off the line, but Lopez was able to hold onto the lead from pole position. Sam Lowes and Dixon lost places off the start with Lowes dropping to tenth. Tony Arbolino capitalised on the bad starts and moved himself up from tenth on the grid to sixth place.

Into the final chicane, Acosta was able to get past the championship leader Arbolino. The Spaniard continued to ride fast as he set the fastest time on the second tour of the circuit.

Lopez began to extend his lead out from Ogura to over half a second. Fermin Aldeguer was riding in fourth place but continued to lose time to the riders ahead of him, dropping over one second behind Dixon on the third lap.

Arbolino was unable to continue his move up the field and started falling down the grid from lap five.

Acosta started to close the gap to Dixon, who in turn was attempting to get past Ogura but failed.

Dixon and Ogura started to catch up to then race leader Lopez by lap six and worked together to bring the gap down.

Aldeguer cut the chicane on lap seven and was given a long lap penalty as the stewards determined that he did not lose enough time when returning to the track. The Beta Tools SpeedUp rider was in fourth place when it was given.

Dixon finally got past Ogura into turn one on lap nine and Arbolino was able to get past Albert Arenas on the same lap. After dispatching Ogura, Dixon continued to close in on Lopez.

On lap ten, Dixon looked for a move past Lopez at turn one but was unable to get past. Somkiat Chantra crashed at turn one on the same lap, causing a yellow flag in sector one.

The long lap loop had been catching some riders out, but Aldeguer completed it without an issue. He went into it fast but was still able to brake when he needed to and did not venture onto the green. Due to this, Arbolino made a mistake allowing Aron Canet to get past.

The battle for fourth place between Acosta and Ogura continued through lap eleven with the Spaniard trying to move on the Japanese rider but it could not stick. Dixon was also looking for a space around Lopez to try and take the lead.

Dixon got a good run out of the final corner and was able to overtake Lopez into turn one to lead the race. After this overtake, Lopez began to drop down the order as Ogura was able to pass him into the final chicane and Acosta passed him on the next lap.

Ogura and Acosta were both faster than Dixon on lap fourteen, eating slightly into his lead and the Brit lost the lead of the race on lap fifteen by running wide at turn five. But into the final chicane, Acosta lost front grip and had to make an amazing save to keep himself in the race, dropping himself to third. The stewards gave Acosta a long lap penalty for this due to him not losing one second in the sector.

After these mistakes, Ogura was able to extend the lead at the front of the race to just over one second, but Dixon was able to save some tyre and started to catch up to the Japanese rider. He began setting personal best laps, slowly reducing the gap between himself and first place.

Acosta took his long lap penalty on the nineteenth lap but did make a mistake by running onto the green paint. This would usually mean that the rider would need to retake the loop, but the stewards were happy with the penalty, even though he did not lose any places.

Dixon was able to close the gap up to less than two-tenths of a second on lap nineteen and got a brilliant drive out of the final chicane on the following lap. The slipstream was on the side of Dixon who sped past Ogura across the start-finish straight, but they touched into the first corner. Ogura ran wide but did not drop any places.

The lead into the final lap for Dixon was over one second and he comfortably completed the final tour of the circuit to cross the line in first place to win his first-ever Grand Prix race.

Aldeguer improved up to fourth place and was looking to make a move on Acosta but was unable to.

Lopez finished the race in sixth place ahead of Arbolino, Manuel Gonzalez, Arenas and Vietti who closed out the top ten.

Feature Image Credit: MotoGP

DUTCH MOTO2 GRAND PRIX, ASSEN – RACE RESULTS
POS RIDER NAT TEAM BIKE TIME
1 Jake Dixon GBR Inde GASGAS Aspar Team (Kalex) 35m 43.411s
2 Ai Ogura JPN IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia (Kalex) 35m 44.745s
3 Pedro Acosta SPA Red Bull KTM Ajo (Kalex) 35m 47.859s
4 Fermín Aldeguer SPA Beta Tools SpeedUp (Boscoscuro) 35m 47.898s
5 Aron Canet SPA Pons Wegow Los40 (Kalex) 35m 48.295s
6 Alonso Lopez SPA Beta Tools SpeedUp (Boscoscuro) 35m 52.966s
7 Tony Arbolino ITA Elf Marc VDS Racing Team (Kalex) 35m 53.036s
8 Manuel Gonzalez SPA Correos Prepago Yamaha VR46 (Kalex) 35m 53.958s
9 Albert Arenas SPA Red Bull KTM Ajo (Kalex) 35m 54.026s
10 Celestino Vietti ITA Fantic Racing (Kalex) 35m 54.172s
11 Sam Lowes GBR Elf Marc VDS Racing Team (Kalex) 35m 59.375s
12 Barry Baltus BEL Fieten Olie Racing GP (Kalex) 36m 1.645s
13 Sergio Garcia SPA Pons Wegow Los40 (Kalex) 36m 3.819s
14 Darryn Binder RSA Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP (Kalex) 36m 4.050s
15 Jeremy Alcoba SPA QJMOTOR Gresini Moto2 (Kalex) 36m 7.903s
16 Lukas Tulovic GER Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP (Kalex) 36m 12.827s
17 Carlos Tatay SPA OnlyFans American Racing (Kalex) 36m 15.851s
18 Joe Roberts USA Italtrans Racing Team (Kalex) 36m 18.428s
19 Dennis Foggia ITA Italtrans Racing Team (Kalex) 36m 18.646s
20 Zonta Vd Goorbergh NED Fieten Olie Racing GP (Kalex) 36m 33.805s
21 Taiga Hada JPN Pertamina Mandalika SAG Team (Kalex) 36m 53.179s
22 Yeray Ruiz SPA Forward Team (Forward) +3 laps
  Filip Salac CZE QJMOTOR Gresini Moto2 (Kalex) DNF
  Borja Gomez SPA Fantic Racing (Kalex) DNF
  Alex Escrig SPA Forward Team (Forward) DNF
  Izan Guevara SPA Inde GASGAS Aspar Team (Kalex) DNF
  Sean Dylan Kelly USA OnlyFans American Racing (Kalex) DNF
  Somkiat Chantra THA IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia (Kalex) DNF

 

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Moto2: Lopez Takes Pole by Nine Thousandths of a Second

Alonso Lopez stormed to pole position with a pole position record ahead of Jake Dixon and Ai Ogura who join him on the front row for tomorrow’s race.

In Q1, all eyes were on Barry Baltus, Celestino Vietti and Sergio Garcia as they fought for the four spots available to progress through to Q2. After the first set of laps, the spots were filled by Baltus, Vietti, Garcia and Jeremy Alcoba.

After setting a good lap time, Garcia crashed at turn one causing a yellow flag with two minutes to go. Lukas Tulovic crossed the start-finish line but was only able to set the fifth fastest time. Even with the yellow flag, he still had time to complete another fast lap.

However, due to the yellow flag, no rider was able to set a faster lap time and Baltus, Alcoba, Vietti and Garcia were the riders who went through to the second round of qualifying.

The next fifteen minutes were dedicated to finding the riders who would set the top eighteen places for the grid tomorrow. All the riders came out as soon as the green flag was flown except Ai Ogura, Aron Canet and Somkiat Chantra.

After the first set of runs, Dixon set a 1:36.304 – the all-time pole record around the TT Circuit Assen. He was followed by Acosta, Fermin Aldeguer, Sam Lowes and Manuel Gonzalez.

Dixon almost set a faster lap time, as he was up on his own time in the first two sectors but was met with traffic in the third sector, meaning he was unable to improve. Acosta had his second flying lap deleted due to exceeding track limits. Vietti jumped up to second place ahead of Albert Arenas.

Ogura jumped to the top of the timesheets with a lap 0.003 seconds faster than Dixon who had just gone into the pits to change his tyres and headed out for a second set of lap times. Pedro Acosta was able to improve on his lap time to set the third fastest lap time but was still a quarter of a second down on the lap time from Ogura.

With four minutes left, Vietti crashed in sector one causing a yellow flag for the riders behind, but Dixon was lucky in that he was coming to the end of his lap when the caution came out and set a faster lap once again and Sam Lowes also improved to fourth place.

Arenas had the potential to set a quick time after setting the fastest first two sectors but was unable to put the rest of the lap together and set the seventh fastest lap time.

Aron Canet crashed at turn one with two minutes left in the session causing a yellow flag. Lopez was incredibly lucky to have passed through sector one before the Pons Wegow Los40 rider went down and was able to set a 1:36.247, which is a pole position record and only nine thousandths of a second faster than Dixon just behind him. Ogura joins the Spaniard and Brit on the front row tomorrow.

Aldeguer leads the second row ahead of Lowes and Acosta in front of the third row which consists of Chantra, Arenas and Vietti.

Championship leader Tony Arbolino was only able to set a time fast enough for tenth place on the grid tomorrow.

Feature Image Credit: MotoGP

2023 DUTCH MOTO2 GRAND PRIX, ASSEN – QUALIFYING RESULTS
POS RIDER NAT TEAM BIKE TIME
1 Alonso Lopez SPA Beta Tools SpeedUp (Boscoscuro) 1m 36.247s
2 Jake Dixon GBR Inde GASGAS Aspar Team (Kalex) 1m 36.256s
3 Ai Ogura JPN IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia (Kalex) 1m 36.301s
4 Fermín Aldeguer SPA Beta Tools SpeedUp (Boscoscuro) 1m 36.481s
5 Sam Lowes GBR Elf Marc VDS Racing Team (Kalex) 1m 36.528s
6 Pedro Acosta SPA Red Bull KTM Ajo (Kalex) 1m 36.560s
7 Somkiat Chantra THA IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia (Kalex) 1m 36.564s
8 Albert Arenas SPA Red Bull KTM Ajo (Kalex) 1m 36.603s
9 Celestino Vietti ITA Fantic Racing (Kalex) 1m 36.663s
10 Tony Arbolino ITA Elf Marc VDS Racing Team (Kalex) 1m 36.738s
11 Aron Canet SPA Pons Wegow Los40 (Kalex) 1m 36.763s
12 Manuel Gonzalez SPA Correos Prepago Yamaha VR46 (Kalex) 1m 36.827s
13 Filip Salac CZE QJMOTOR Gresini Moto2 (Kalex) 1m 36.850s
14 Joe Roberts USA Italtrans Racing Team (Kalex) 1m 37.045s
15 Darryn Binder RSA Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP (Kalex) 1m 37.133s
16 Barry Baltus BEL Fieten Olie Racing GP (Kalex) 1m 37.136s
17 Sergio Garcia SPA Pons Wegow Los40 (Kalex) 1m 37.512s
18 Jeremy Alcoba SPA QJMOTOR Gresini Moto2 (Kalex) 1m 37.691s
19 Lukas Tulovic GER Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP (Kalex) 1m 37.223s
20 Carlos Tatay SPA OnlyFans American Racing (Kalex) 1m 37.384s
21 Izan Guevara SPA Inde GASGAS Aspar Team (Kalex) 1m 37.407s
22 Sean Dylan Kelly USA OnlyFans American Racing (Kalex) 1m 37.517s
23 Zonta Vd Goorbergh NED Fieten Olie Racing GP (Kalex) 1m 37.518s
24 Borja Gomez SPA Fantic Racing (Kalex) 1m 37.551s
25 Dennis Foggia ITA Italtrans Racing Team (Kalex) 1m 37.738s
26 Yeray Ruiz SPA Forward Team (Forward) 1m 37.742s
27 Taiga Hada JPN Pertamina Mandalika SAG Team (Kalex) 1m 38.113s
28 Alex Escrig SPA Forward Team (Forward) 1m 38.134s

 

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Moto2: Argentinian GP Preview

celestino vietti and fermin aldeguer moto2

After last weekend’s curtain raiser in Portugal, the MotoGP circus heads to the Americas for the second round of the 2023 season.

The Autódromo Termas de Río Hondo, located in northern Argentina, will host what promises to be an exciting weekend of two-wheeled action. The 4.8km circuit will demand nothing but the the best from the riders. The circuit is seldom used outside of MotoGP and is expected to be extremely dirty. With teams still adapting to the new weekend schedule, the tricky conditions will only add to the unpredictability.

After cruising to victory in the first round, Pedro Acosta is being tipped by almost everyone to top the podium again. The former Moto3 champion has hit the ground running and will be looking to make amends after missing multiple races last season through injury. The 18-year-old threw down the gauntlet with a dominating ride in Portugal, he will be the man to beat this weekend.

Aron Canet was the only rider capable of matching Acosta’s pace in Portimão. The Spaniard finished 2nd for the 10th time in Moto2 and remains in search of his first win in the intermediate class. After finishing 4th in Argentina last season, it is certainly worth keeping an eye on him this weekend.

Last year’s winner, Celestino Vietti, will be hoping to replicate his success on Sunday. After a promising start to his 2022 campaign, the Italian rider had a tough time keeping his VR46 machinery upright. He crashed out of a number of races and his hopes of winning the Moto2 Championship faded quickly. After joining the newly formed Fantic Racing during the offseason, the 21-year-old will be hoping to build on his solid points finish last weekend in Portimão.

Vietti was joined on the podium last season by the Honda Team Asia duo of Somkiat Chantra and Ai Ogura. The latter missed the opening round in Portugal after injuring his wrist during the winter. The Japanese rider has been declared fit and will kickstart his campaign this weekend.

Another rider who impressed last time out in Argentina is 17-year-old Fermin Aldeguer. He stunned the field in qualifying, taking his maiden pole position at just 16 years of age. Unfortunately, the Spaniard crashed out whilst challenging Vietti for the lead, so there’s no doubt he’ll be chomping at the bit to get out on track.

The hopes of British fans will once again rest on the shoulders of Jake Dixon and Sam Lowes. The pair finished 6th and 7th respectively last weekend and both finished inside the top 10 on their last visit to Argentina.

According to the forecast, weather could play a key role throughout the weekend. Rain is likely to be a factor on Friday which will keep teams on their toes with showers a possibility on Sunday. Temperature’s are expected to be in the low-to-mid-20s. The race is scheduled to start at 12:15pm local time (4:15pm GMT).

Feature Image: MotoGP

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Moto2: Stunning Home Win for Ai Ogura at the Japanese GP

Ai Ogura and his Honda Team Asia machine have taken a home win at the Japanese GP. He took the lead at the half-way point in the race and never looked back. Joining him on the podium was championship leader, Augusto Fernandez and early race leader Alonso Lopez.

The tears were flowing in the Honda Team Asia garage today as Ai Ogura took a stunning home victory at the Japanese Grand Prix. He is the first rider to do so since 2006 and was greeted like a hero in parc ferme.

Whilst his win felt dominant, it was hard fought as he made his way through the pack from 13th on the grid. He made a brilliant start, leaping up to 6th in the first few corners, and never looked back.

Our championship leader faced a similarly brilliant day, coming home in 2nd despite starting in 11th. However, Augusto Fernandez will be disappointed to have not been able to catch Ogura today. He certainly had the pace to do so, evidenced on his journey up through the field.

The final podium spot was taken by Alonso Lopez who enjoyed spending much of the first half of the race in 1st. The Spanish rider enjoyed a strong race today but his performance dropped off a little too much in the final laps for him to improve on 3rd.

It was a difficult day for both Aron Canet and Fermin Aldeguer who qualified in 1st and 2nd respectively. Firstly, Aldeguer crashed out on lap 3, with Canet facing a similar fate just one lap later. Both were visibly frustrated but today felt like Canet’s race to lose. He was enjoying a comfortable lead with 1.8s of clear track behind him when he hit the gravel.

 

AS IT HAPPENED

As the lights went out, it was Aldeguer who flew off the line and quickly took the lead away from pole-sitter Canet, coming out on top as they existed turn 1. Just behind them, Somkiat Chantra overtook Jake Dixon for 3rd. However, Chantra faced a moment in the early corners and this put plenty of clear air between himself and the two leading riders and the rest of the pack. By the end of the first lap this gap was up to 0.9s, giving Canet and Aldeguer a comfortable lead.

Other strong starts were enjoyed by Cameron Beaubier as he leapt from 8th to 4th, Ogura who flew from 13th to 6th and Acosta who jumped from 18th to 13th. Sadly, after losing 3rd to Chantra, Dixon was then swallowed even further by the grid and eventually ended up in 9th, having started in 3rd.

By the end of the first lap, Ogura continued to climb and was battling hard with Beaubier for 6th. As Ogura rose up the ranks, his title contender Fernandez was still stuck down in 12th and unable to make waves in the early laps.

As Chantra struggles to close up to the leading pair, Ogura overtakes Tony Arbolino to take 4th. In doing so, he also sets the fastest lap of the race so far.

At turn 5 of lap 3, Aldeguer crashes out of the race from 2nd place. The front wheel slides from under him and he is left clearly heartbroken, dejectedly leaning on the tire wall as the marshals remove his bike from the gravel. With Aldeguer out of the race, he gifts a 1.8s lead to Canet who goes on to set the fastest lap of the race so far.

As Canet continues to push, possibly pushing too hard, he then goes down himself and crashes at turn 9 of lap 4. He is able to rejoin the field but is way down at the back of the grid before eventually retiring after a second crash on lap 16.

As the riders complete the fourth lap of the race, Chantra is leading from Arbolino in 2nd and Lopez in 3rd. Arbolino seems to struggle on lap 5 as he loses 2nd place to Lopez and, a matter of corners later, then loses 3rd place to Ogura.

Fernandez, knowing his championship contender had made his way up to the podium places, was finally starting to make waves and manages to get himself up to 6th in response. He then tries a move on Dixon for 5th but the Brit rider aggressively fights back and firmly shuts the door on him.

On lap 7, whilst leading the race, Chantra has a moment and goes wide at turn 5. This allows Lopez and Ogura to overtake him and take 1st and 2nd respectively. As he recovers from the mistake, Chantra then loses 3rd to Arbolino, leaving him stuck down in 4th having lead the race just moments earlier.

Celestino Vietti, who led the Moto2 championship for much of the first half of the season, has struggled all weekend. He qualified in 18th and then crashes out of the race on lap 8. He tries to rejoin the field but retires two laps later.

At half distance, things seemed to have settled down a little with gaps forming in the leading group. Lopez was still leading, ahead of Ogura in 2nd, Arbolino in 3rd, Chantra in 4th, Fernandez in 5th and Dixon in 6th. On lap 11, Lopez seems to start to lose some pace and Ogura is quickly hot on his tail. The gap, which had been 0.4s on the previous lap, quickly reduced down to 0.1s.

Image Credit: MotoGP

The top two riders spend the next two laps battling for 1st and, eventually, on turn 11 of lap 13, Ogura snatches and retains the lead. At the same time, his title rival, Fernandez is fighting with Arbolino for 3rd and eventually comes out on top, besting the Italian rider.

On all 14, the gap begins to grow between Ogura and Lopez, causing Lopez to fall into the clutches of chasing Fernandez. The two Spanish riders remain close for all of lap 15 and are almost side-by-side as they cross the line to start lap 16. This pressure then causes Lopez to go wide at the start of lap 16, which finally allows Fernandez through. They continue to battle for the following few laps which allows Dixon, in 4th, to catch up to them.

Everything calms down again by lap 17 as Ogura pulls out a 1.8s lead over Fernandez. After their hot battle, Lopez in third drops back to 1.1s behind Fernandez and remains 0.9s ahead of Dixon in 4th. A further 2.6s behind him is Chantra, Arbolino and Acosta.

Aware that his title rival is just one place ahead of him, Fernandez now sets the fastest lap of the race. On the following lap, in reaction to this, Ogura shaves 0.4s off his lap time. Similarly, in response to Dixon’s chasing, Lopez cuts 0.6s off his lap time. With no one able to significantly close any gaps, the riders all keep their heads and cross the checkered flag in this same order.

 

CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS

With just four races left of the 2022 season, everything is still to place for in the championship and a single error could be the difference between hero and zero.

After righting his way up to 2nd place today, Fernandez remains at the top of the standings. However, today’s race win has allowed Ogura to close to the gap to just two points!

After a DNF today, both Canet and Vietti’s title fights appear to be over. Canet is 57 points behind Fernandez and Vietti is an enormous 72 points away.

Image Credit: MotoGP
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Moto2: Flawless Ogura leads home a Honda Team Asia 1-2 in Austria

Ai Ogura has won the Austrian GP, despite a last-lap attempt from his team mate Somkiat Chantra. Chantra had to settle for 2nd whilst Dixon took 3rd in the final moments of the race. Ogura now leads the championship, just 1 point ahead of Augusto Fernandez.

Ai Ogura has turned his pole position into a stunning win at the Red Bull Ring. He took the lead early in the race and never looked back. Just behind him was his Honda Team Asia team mate, Somkiat Chantra, who had to settle for second despite a last-lap attempt for the win. With just a few corners to go, Chantra made his move round the outside and was ahead of Ogura until the Japanese rider got the cut back at the final corner.

Jake Dixon was able to capitalise on the drama and action around him, keeping his nose clean throughout the race and coming home in third. Much like Chantra, he made a final lap lunge on Pedro Acosta. Unlike Chantra, he was able to make this stick to take 3rd in the final moments of the race.

Acosta, who is returning from an injury sustained before the summer break, had a positive day despite missing the chance to visit the podium. He was the fastest man on the track in the early stages of the race, setting numerous fastest laps as he enjoyed a race-long battle with Dixon.

Just behind him were the ever-battling group of Augusto Fernandez, Aron Canet and Alonso Lopez who eventually finished in 5th, 6th and 7th respectively. Lopez will be frustrated with his final position today, after leading the race in the first few laps as well as enjoying a battle for the podium with Ogura and Vietti. His biggest mistake came on Lap 9 when he was sitting in third and trying to keep Vietti behind. He overcooked it, went wide and gave away the place to the Italian rider. A few laps later, whilst battling with Fernandez and Canet, he then dropped from 4th to 8th in the space of a few corners.

Meanwhile, Celestino Vietti had a terrible day and retired a few laps after he crashed. With 9 laps to go and sitting in 3rd, he was looking to make a move on Chantra for 2nd when he pushed too hard and the bike slipped out from underneath him. He rejoined at the back of the pack but retired shortly after.

Further non-finishers included Tony Arbolino and Lorenzo Dalla Porta who have a very scary crash at Turn 3 – the two riders tangled together as they misjudged each other’s braking points, leaving them and their bikes in the middle of the track as the grid had to carefully made their way through. Thankfully, the fast work of the marshal meant we didn’t need a red flag but Arbolino and Dalla Porta were unable to rejoin the grid. This wasn’t the way Arbolino would have wanted to finish his 100th race!

Aldeguer had a similarly scary crash – on Lap 12 he fell at the entry to the newly designed Turn 2a/2b chicane and almost slid into the path of the racing pack.

Alessandro Zaccone was the first crash of the race – an enormous high-side at the reworked Turn 2 chicane ruined his bike and he was stretchered off the track by the medical team. Sean Dylan Kelly, Kemith Kubo, Manuel Gonzalez and Filip Salac also failed to finish the race.

CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
Image Credit: MotoGP

After his flawless win, Ogura now leads the championship by a single point over Fernandez, who will have been disappointed with 5th today. After retiring from the race and scoring no points, Vietti has slipped back even further. He is still third in the standings but is now 26 points behind Fernandez.

Feature Image: MotoGP

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Moto2: Ogura Takes Pole For Austrian GP

Ai Ogura has taken pole ahead of tomorrow’s race at the Red Bull Ring. He will be joined on the front row by Alonso Lopez and Augusto Fernandez.

Japanese rider, Ai Ogura, will start tomorrow’s Austrian GP from pole position after setting a stunning qualifying lap time of 1:33.933. Just 0.048 seconds behind him was Alonso Lopez taking 2nd place. Championship leader, Augusto Fernandez, will line up 3rd for tomorrow’s race.

The top five were covered by less than 0.2 seconds with Jake Dixon in 4th and Somkiat Chantra in 5th.

After being declared fit to race on Thursday, the returning Pedro Acosta made it to Q2 and took an impressive 6th for tomorrow’s race. Just behind him was Celestino Vietti who will be looking to make significant improvements after his recent poor performance.

Marcel Schrotter was forced to make his way through Q2 but eventually took 8th ahead of Albert Arenas and Lorenzo Dalla Porta who took 9th and 10th respectively.

After topping the time sheets in Q1, Cameron Beaubier took 11th in Q2. Fermin Aldeguer was also a Q1 progressor and, despite sitting at the top of the timing sheets in the early stages, took 12th as the session ended.

Aron Canet struggled during the session. With 3 minutes left on the clock and provisionally sitting in 11th, he crashed out of the session and was eventually shuffled back to 17th.

Tony Arbolino, who starts his 100th race this weekend, will line up in a slightly disappointing 15th. He lines up just ahead of the final Q1 progressor, Bo Bendsneyder in 16th.

Jeremy Alcoba and Joe Roberts were achingly close to a place in Q2 thanks to their final flying laps in Q1. However, they are forced to line up 19th and 20th respectively for tomorrow’s race.

All the race action will be available on Crew On Two so stay tuned for all the details!

Feature Image: MotoGP

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