Fermin Aldeguer cruised to a second straight Moto2 victory at the Sepang International Circuit in commanding fashion, while Pedro Acosta secured the rider’s title with two races to spare.

Aldeguer lost the lead to Yamaha Master Camp’s Manuel Gonzalez off the start, though managed to level him through Turn 1. Aldeguer made contact with the Spaniard exiting the bend though which sent him to the floor while the Speed Up man regained the lead.

From this point on Aldeguer checked out from the rest of the field, pulling around a second a lap on Acosta in the opening laps to craft a solid advantage.

Having escaped penalty for his part in the incident with Ramirez, Aldeguer remained untroubled for the remainder of the encounter as he expertly preserved his rubber to take the chequered flag 7.1 seconds clear of Acosta to grab a third win of the season.

It would be Acosta who secured the ultimate prize by finishing second though, as with Marc VDS’ Tony Arbolino suffering a tough outing en route to 10^th, Acosta’s runners-up result wrapped up the 2023 title with two races to spare as he extended his points gap over the Italian to an unassailable 79.

Acosta’s title came off the back of 14 rostrum results from the 18 races contested so far this season, including a total of seven victories to ensure he will step up to the GasGas MotoGP squad in 2024 as the reigning intermediate class champion.

The tussle for the final spot of the rostrum was more hotly contested, as American Racing’s Marcos Ramirez desperately tried to hang onto a maiden podium result ahead of a charging Ai Ogura in the closing laps.

Ramirez had held the spot right from the outset of the encounter, though had begun to run out of tire later on, allowing Ogura to close right in.

The Honda Team Asia racer – who took advantage of the craziness at Turn 1 on the first lap to move from 15^th on the grid to sixth exiting the bend – pressed Ramirez as he tried to find a way through on the very final lap.

Ramirez was determined to finally stand on the rostrum though and held firm to secure third ahead of Ogura, while GasGas’ Jake Dixon snatched away fifth from the other Speed Up of Alonso Lopez on the final lap.

Having already dropped outside the top five, Lopez then crashed out just a few corners from home. This allowed the other Honda Team Asia entry of Somkiat Chantra to claim sixth ahead of MarcVDS’ Sam Lowes.

Joe Roberts was eighth for Italtrans ahead of KTM Ajo’s Albert Arenas, as Arbolino took advantage of Lopez’s problems to salvage a top-ten result despite his earlier mishap.

Several front runners failed to make the finish, including Aron Canet who challenged within the top five in the early laps. He dropped to 14^th after serving a long-lap penalty for crashing under yellow flags in qualifying, but later crashed out while trying to recover positions.

His Pons team-mate Sergio Garcia also later went down while fighting within the top ten, while Fantic Racing’s Celestino Vietti fell victim to Turn 9 while running fourth.

Fermin Aldeguer cruised to a second career Moto2 win in commanding fashion as he defeated Pedro Acosta in the Thai Grand Prix, who edged closer to securing the title.

Pole-man Aldeguer enjoyed a good start to keep the lead off the line ahead of the series leader, and swiftly began to build up a lead in the early laps.

He soon pulled out over a second over Acosta to escape the slipstream range of the two long straights that make up the first sector of the Chang International Circuit, the Speed Up racer continually edging away from his pursuer.

Having built up a lead of over three seconds by the time the encounter hit two-thirds distance, Aldeguer suffered a small panic moment after running wide at the final bend, an error which cost him a second to Acosta.

He soon managed to regain his composure and started to pull away once again, the Spaniard eventually taking the chequered flag by 3.4 seconds over Acosta to secure his second career win after scoring victory at Silverstone earlier this year.

Acosta’s quiet run to second moved him a step closer to securing this year’s Moto2 rider’s title however, the Ajo KTM pilot extending his points advantage to 63 over Marc VDS’ Tony Arbolino with only 75 left to play for this season after the Italian could only manage fourth in Thailand.

Home hero Somkiat Chantra meanwhile secured a popular podium finish after coming home a solid third for Honda Team Asia.

Arbolino needed to finish at least 15^th to keep his championship hopes alive with Acosta second, and despite struggling to stay within the top ten early on he was able to fight back through to fourth to keep his now remote chances going until Malaysia in two weeks time.

Ai Ogura meanwhile enjoyed a battling encounter to recover from 19^th on the grid to complete the top five on the sister Honda Team Asia entry, the Japanese pilot getting the better of American Racing’s Marcos Ramirez in the closing stages. Sixth was still Ramirez’s best result of the year though.

Albert Arenas was seventh on his Ajo KTM machine ahead of the other Speed Up of Alonso Lopez, while GasGas’ Izan Guevara managed to steal ninth from Manuel Gonzalez on the final lap after the VR46 Master Camp rider made an error.

Aron Canet narrowly missed out on a top ten result in 11^th after the Pons racer had to serve a double long-lap penalty for a jump start, the Spaniard aided by several riders crashing out in front of him.

Jake Dixon – Canet’s main rival for third in the championship – went down after running into the side of Celestino Vietti after out braking himself at Turn 2, the Brit high siding and retiring on the spot. The resulting loss of time put Vietti under pressure from Arbolino, and the Italian ran wide at Turn 5 and crashed out himself from sixth.

Joe Roberts lost out on the opportunity of a top ten after crashing his Italtrans-prepared bike after just a few laps, while Sergio Garcia also went down from tenth at Turn 5 approaching mid-distance.

Tony Arbolino secured a second victory of the 2023 Moto2 season at Phillip Island after the race was red-flagged and called just before mid-distance due to inclement weather.

The Italian survived the early laps that saw many of the front runners fall victim to the cold and windy conditions afflicting the Australian venue. This included early leader Sergio Garcia, Speed Up’s Alonso Lopez, Arbolino’s team-mate Sam Lowes, GasGas’ Jake Dixon and Gresini’s Filip Salac, all of whom ran within the top five in the early tours.

All this ended up leaving Arbolino out in front by a monstrous 12 seconds by the time half-a-dozen laps had been completed, with pole man Fermin Aldeguer running second ahead of Pons’ Aron Canet.

Arbolino continued to extend his advantage out front across the remaining laps to around 15 seconds before the red flag was shown on lap ten as the conditions continued to deteriorate.  

The severe wind ultimately forced race direction to call off any potential restart, thus declaring Arbolino the victor – though his hopes of taking chunks out of title rival Pedro Acosta’s points lead were dashed due to half-points being awarded.

Canet ended up being credited with second having passed Aldeguer shortly before the stoppage, the Speed Up man therefore left to complete the rostrum in third.

The sole remaining Gresini entry of Jeremy Alcoba came home fourth ahead of Italtrans’ Joe Roberts, while Izan Guevara secured his best Moto2 result to date in sixth for GasGas.

Somkiat Chantra rose from 16^th on the grid to claim seventh in the end ahead of SAG’s Bo Bensneyder, with Acosta taking ninth in the final reckoning having started from 31^st and last on the grid after crashing on the sighting lap.

Marco Ramirez completed the top ten for American Racing, while team-mate Rory Skinner secured his first ever Moto2 points finish in 12^th just behind the other SAG machine of Taiga Hada.

Acosta now holds a slightly reduced 56-point lead over Arbolino with just four rounds of the 2023 term left to run.

Pedro Acosta cruised to a dominant seventh win of the 2023 Moto2 season in the Indonesian Grand Prix to extend his points lead to 65.  

The Ajo rider made a spirited start and managed to rise from fourth on the grid to second as the field exited Turn 1, the Spaniard quickly heaping the pressure on pole man Aron Canet.

Acosta managed to dispatch Canet at Turn 1 only a few tours into the encounter, the KTM junior rider swiftly settling into a rhythm that allowed him to continuously eke out a gap over his pursuers.

Having also looked after his tyres effectively, Acosta was never headed beyond this point and ended up taking the chequered flag first for the seventh time this term in assured fashion by just over two seconds on Canet.

The Pons pilot held off the advances of Speed Up’s Fermin Aldeguer in the closing stages, the British Moto2 GP victor having seemingly saved his rubber better than the pole man.

Aldeguer got to within six-tenths-of-a-second of his target as the race entered its climactic moments, though ultimately fell away once again. This left Canet to claim his 12^th runners-up result in the intermediate class ahead of Aldeguer, who claimed his second career rostrum finish.

Jake Dixon meanwhile enjoyed a late-race charge to grab fourth from Manuel Gonzalez on the final tour, the GasGas rider recovering from a mistake that saw him run wide while battling with Marc VDS’ Tony Arbolino.

The Brit managed to recover the deficit and get back ahead of Arbolino before dispatching Gonzalez, the latter’s gamble on opting for the harder compound rear tyre failing to pay off as he rounded off the top five.    

Arbolino’s title chances continue to look ever more remote as he took sixth having struggled for rear grip past half-distance, though he still had enough speed to stay ahead of Japanese GP winner Somkiat Chantra.

Sergio Garcia came home eighth on the sister Pons entry, while Joe Roberts claimed ninth for Italtrans ahead of the other Marc VDS machine of Sam Lowes.

Ai Ogura had a tough day and could only salvage 17^th having run outside the top 20 in the opening circulations, while Alonso Lopez also failed to score after crashing at Turn 1 on the first lap with Alberto Surra.

Gresini’s Filip Salac also suffered a tough day, the Czech rider first making a mistake that dropped him towards the back end of the top 20 before going down at the final bend after making contact with Ogura.

Somkiat Chantra cruised to a first win of the 2023 Moto2 season at Motegi to head a Honda Team Asia 1-2 ahead of team-mate Ai Ogura.

The Thai pilot held the lead from pole off the start and soon began to pull clear of the rest as Alonso Lopez began to hold up the riders behind.

The Speed Up racer was soon out the way though after serving a double long-lap penalty, while team-mate Ogura was forced to recover from an average start that left him fourth at the end of the opening lap.

He soon managed to clear Lopez and GasGas’ Jake Dixon, but Chantra had already pulled out north of a two-second advantage by this point. Ogura closed at several points due to a couple of mistakes from the leader, though ultimately Chantra had things under control and eventually took the chequered flag 1.353 seconds clear of Ogura to claim his first win of the season.

Series leader Pedro Acosta extended his points advantage further as he completed the rostrum finishers in third, the Spaniard forced to recover from a compromised start. He later passed Dixon and moved clear to secure third, his cause helped as title rival Tony Arbolino struggled in Japan.

The Marc VDS rider had to battle hard to even hang onto a top ten result, though eventually fell to 11^th by the time he crossed the finish line for the final time, Acosta thus opening up a commanding 50-point advantage with just six races remaining.

Dixon meanwhile ended up claiming fourth ahead of Gresini’s Filip Salac, while VR46 Master Camp’s Manuel Gonzalez claimed sixth.

Marcos Ramirez enjoyed a strong run to claim American Racing’s best result of 2023 in seventh ahead of Pons racer Aron Canet, while Zonta van den Goorbergh continued his recent strong run with a second-successive top-ten finish for RW Racing.

Darryn Binder ended up getting the better of Arbolino to secure the last spot within the top ten.

Lopez fell to tenth having served his double long-lap punishment, though struggled for performance thereafter and ultimately came home 13^th after a tough day for the Speed Up operation after Fermin Aldeguer failed to score points down in 22^nd.

Sam Lowes’ tough final Moto2 term failed to improve after the Brit crashed his Marc VDS-run bike at the final corner just half a dozen laps into the contest. Master Camps Kohta Nozane, Italtrans’ Dennis Foggia, and Pons’ Sergio Garcia all joined Lowes in not reaching the finish in the Japanese Grand Prix.  

Pedro Acosta cruised to a second straight Moto2 win in the inaugural Indian Grand Prix, while Jake Dixon was taken out by Alonso Lopez.

Acosta was forced to find his way to the lead on two occasions after the encounter’s original start was red-flagged due to a Turn 1 crash instigated by Gresini’s Jeremy Alcoba, the Spaniard cleaning out the likes of Fantic’s Celestino Vietti and Honda Team Asia’s Somkiat Chantra.  

Acosta swiftly regrouped when the race got back underway for a reduced 12-lap sprint, the series leader moving clear of a fast-starting Sergio Garcia on the opening tour before swiftly extending his advantage.

He had crafted a 1.5-second lead in just a couple of laps before Marc VDS’ Tony Arbolino moved through to second, though the Italian also found himself unable to do much about his championship rival as he steadily fell away.

Acosta eventually took the chequered flag 3.8 seconds clear of Arbolino in assured fashion to extend his points advantage to 39 ahead of next weekend’s Japanese GP.

The breathless battle for third meanwhile between Garcia and Italtrans racer Joe Roberts continued right up until the final couple of bends, the pair swapping places on multiple occasions as Garcia desperately tried to hang onto a maiden series rostrum result.

The Spaniard managed to hit back on every move Roberts made, the American pulling off a bold move at the banked Turn 9 on the final lap before running wide, which allowed Garcia to sneak back through once more.

Garcia’s hard work went to waste though as he ran wide at Turn 13 and had to slow significantly to not crash on the dirty paintwork on the outside of the track, allowing Roberts to slip through and secure his first podium finish of the year.

Garcia managed to at least keep the charging Yamaha Master Camp pilot of Manuel Gonzalez at bay to salvage fourth, while Zonta van den Goorbergh secured his first points of the 2023 campaign with an assured ride to sixth for the Fieten Olie GP squad.

Darryn Binder did well on his first appearance since Austria as he returned from injury, the South African taking seventh ahead of the sister Fieten Olie entry of Barry Baltus.

Marcos Ramirez was able to take the restart after being collected in the first restart crash to secure ninth for American Racing, while Filip Salac rounded off the top ten for Gresini.

The Czech rider’s team-mate Alcoba meanwhile also managed to make the restart, though he crashed out while taking the second of the long-lap penalties he received for his part in the Turn 1 incident.

Jake Dixon saw a potential rostrum charge ended after being taken out by Alonso Lopez at Turn 4 shortly after the restart, the GasGas man diving past Lopez on entry to the corner before the Speed Up rider tried to cut back, though he gassed up too early and clattered into the side of Dixon.

Both went down as a result, with Lopez remounting to take the chequered flag outside the top 20 while Dixon crashed again later on into retirement.

Ai Ogura also crashed as a by-product of Aron Canet taking out Sam Lowes at Turn 3 having outbraked himself on the inside, Canet retiring on the spot while Lowes and Ogura remounted en route to 19^th and 21^st respectively.  

Ai Ogura and Sergio Garcia will form the rider line-up of new Moto2 squad MT Helmets-MSI for the 2024 season after the team purchased the assets of Pons Racing.

MT Helmets-MSI took over Pons’ team after team owner Sito Pons elected to shutter his historic operation after missing out on a chance to re-join the MotoGP field, the new organisation, which currently competes in the Moto3 world championship, originally keen to bring lightweight class rider Diogo Moreira into the series before he elected to join Italtrans in Moto2 instead.

The outfit, which competes in Moto3 with Honda machinery, announced on Friday that Ogura, who currently competes for the Honda Team Asia squad as a Honda-contracted rider, will be joined for its maiden intermediate class campaign by Garcia, who will remain with the team having competed with Pons in 2023.

Ogura will remain contracted to Honda despite switching away from the team linked closely to the Japanese marque, Ogura the next in line to join its premier class program when he is ready.

“We are very satisfied with the rider duo we have set up for next season,” said MT Helmets-MSI Team Principle Teo Martin.

“Sergio Garcia and Ai Ogura have a lot of riding quality and will be part of the Top10 in the intermediate category.

“We are confident that in 2024, we will be able to do a good job and we hope to achieve good results together with them”.  

MT Helmets-MSI currently sit seventh overall in the Moto3 teams championship thanks to the efforts of Moreira and Malaysian ace Syarifuddin Azman.

Ogura and Garcia meanwhile are currently 11^th and 13^th overall in the Moto2 riders standings, the former recently getting back to front-running form after starting the season injured while the latter has shown impressive progress in his maiden season in the series having fought GasGas Moto2 racer Izan Guevara for the 2022 Moto3 title.

Deniz Öncü and Celestino Vietti have been confirmed as the 2024 rider pairing for the highly competitive Red Bull KTM Ajo squad, fuelling speculation regarding the future of current rider Pedro Acosta amid links with a move up to the premier class.

The announcement today confirms that Acosta, who currently leads the way in Moto2, will not be a part of the Ajo Moto2 squad next year, with a move up to MotoGP looking almost certain.

However, there is currently no room amongst the KTM stable for the Spaniard to slot in, with factory Red Bull KTM riders Brad Binder and Jack Miller, plus GASGAS Tech3 pilots Pol Espargaro and Augusto Fernandez, all under contract next year,

Therefore, one rider may be cut out of their deal early to make way for the hot prospect that is Acosta.

The signing of Öncü and Vietti also means that current rider Albert Arenas will have to seek a new opportunity elsewhere in 2024.

In Öncü and Vietti, Ajo has now secured two riders with heaps of potential to help continue its success in Moto2 next year.

Acosta currently leads the way in this year’s Moto2 standings and Fernandez won the title for Ajo last year. Previously, Remy Gardner took top honours for Ajo back in 2021, while Johann Zarco also secured success with the team back in 2015 and ’16.

Öncü, who swapped Tech3 for Ajo this year in Moto3, is a title contender in the junior category, having finally ended his long wait for a win with a maiden victory in Germany earlier this year.

The 20-year-old Turkish rider has since picked up another victory in Austria and sits fourth in the Moto3 standings, 17 points behind leader Daniel Holgado.

“I’m very happy to be moving up to Moto2 with Red Bull KTM Ajo,” said Öncü in a statement on the MotoGP website.

“The main goal this season is to improve in Moto3 and get good results to fight for the title.

“I just want to thank Aki, KTM and Red Bull for their confidence in me and for this opportunity.”

Vietti currently rides for the Fantic Racing Moto2 squad and is a member of Valentino Rossi’s VR46 Rider Academy.

The Italian rider has six wins across the Moto3 and Moto2 classes and was an early title favourite in the intermediate class last year before a run of crashes ruled him out of contention.

Picking up one more win in Moto2 this year in Austria, Vietti is still struggling for consistency and sits sixth in the standings, 105 points back from Acosta.

But another podium (2nd) last time out in Misano proves he has the pace and Ajo, widely considered to be something of a finishing school for talented Moto2 prospects is the perfect place for him to continue his development.

“It’s a great opportunity for me so I am very happy about the news,” Vietti said.

“I have to say thanks to KTM and Aki Ajo for believing in me. Also thanks to VR46 Riders Academy management, as without them none of this would be possible.”

Ajo Team Manager Aki Ajo added: “I have to say that we are excited to have a great mix of experience in this class and young talent with Deniz, who we already know.

“Celestino has shown in the last years that he is one of the top riders in the class.

“Of course, we are very happy to have him on our team alongside Deniz, who is one of the fastest riders in Moto3. The combination will be great and we are excited about it.”

Pedro Acosta dominated proceedings at Misano in the Moto2 San Marino Grand Prix to further extend his points advantage, while title rival Tony Arbolino battled back to fourth.

The KTM Ajo racer made a rapid start to jump clear of pole-man Celestino Vietti into Turn 1, the Spaniard quickly establishing a blistering pace out in front that only Vietti and Pons’ Aron Canet could match.

Canet soon though eliminated himself from contention after tucking the front of his machine at Turn 14 approaching half-distance, leaving Vietti to run down Acosta – the Fantic pilot reducing the leading advantage to just under half-a-second as the race moved past half-way.

This was as close as Vietti would get to snatching away supremacy though as he began to struggle with his front tyre, the Italian nearly losing the front of his bike several times across the closing stanza and thus allowing Acosta cruise well clear for his fifth victory of the term by 6.3 seconds over Vietti.

The battle to third meanwhile went down the very end as Arbolino fought back from ninth on the grid to chase Speed Up racer Alonso Lopez for the final rostrum spot, the Marc VDS man reducing the Spaniard’s gap to under a second in the final lap but was ultimately forced to settle for fourth as Lopez claimed his first podium finish since Le Mans in May.

Acosta thus extends his points lead to a stout 34 over Arbolino heading into the flyaway portion of the year, with GasGas’ Jake Dixon falling to 65 markers adrift of the series lead after struggling to 12^th, the Briton lacking pace on Sunday after crashing during qualifying.

Ai Ogura meanwhile managed to pull off an impressive comeback through the field to complete the top five for Honda Team Asia having started a lowly 13^th; the Japanese ace leading home team-mate Somkiat Chantra after the duo dispatched Manuel Gonzalez in the closing stages.

Italtrans’ Joe Roberts was eighth ahead of Gresini’s Filip Salac, while the wild-carding Mattia Pasini rounded off the top ten for the RW Racing operation having narrowly held off the sole remaining Pons of Sergio Garcia at the death.

Sam Lowes saw a potential top five run come to an end after crashing at Turn 1 while running sixth and hunting down the riders ahead as the race entered its final quarter, while the other Speed Up entry of Fermin Aldeguer lost out on a points finish due to a crash of his own.

Jake Dixon held off Aron Canet in the closing laps of the Catalan Moto2 race to secure his second win of 2023, while title contender Tony Arbolino failed to score.

Dixon held the lead off the start from pole position ahead of Yamaha Master Camp rider Manuel Gonzalez and Canet, though the former was keen to get out in front and moved clear of the Briton after only a few laps – Canet following through soon after.

Dixon looked content to sit behind and save his rubber for an attack later in the race, the GasGas man later being relegated to fourth by charging series leader Pedro Acosta.

He began to move closer to the front once again though just past mid-distance, first moving back ahead of a fading Gonzalez before starting to run in the wheeltracks of Acosta and Canet who battled over the leadership.

He cleared Acosta as a result of a late divebomb on the Spaniard by Pons’ Canet at Turn 4 that pushed Acosta wide – the loss of momentum causing him to fall to fifth across the following bends – allowing Dixon to focus on passing Canet.

Dixon finally managed to move ahead of Canet with only a few laps to go, though the two-time 2023 Moto2 rostrum finisher continued to push hard to try and finally secure a maiden intermediate class victory.   

Dixon ultimately placed his GasGas-run Kalex in all the right places to take the chequered flag leading for his second career success by 0.205s over Canet, who secured his third runners-up result of the year.

Albert Arenas meanwhile finally secured his first podium finish of the term on his Ajo-run entry having looked after his rubber well, the Spaniard getting leading the second Pons bike of Sergio Garcia who cut through to fourth at the death having passed Gonzalez.

Acosta could only grab sixth having struggled for grip in the final tours, though he still extended his points lead over Arbolino who continued to lack speed at the Circuit de Barcelona Catalunya – the Italian coming home a lacklustre 17^th and thus failing to score a single point for Marc VDS.

Ai Ogura ended up seventh for Honda Team Asia ahead of Speed Up’s Alonso Lopez, who dropped back after running off at Turn 1 following contact with Acosta in the closing stages, while the other Marc VDS machine of Sam Lowes and Austrian GP winner Celestino Vietti completed the top ten.

Fermin Aldeguer missed out on a top ten result due to having to serve a pair of long-lap penalties after he missed his first due to a track limits infringement, the Speed Up pilot eventually crossing the line 13^th.

Acosta’s series lead thus stands at 22 over Arbolino ahead of next weekend’s San Marino GP at Misano, with Dixon’s victory seeing him close to within 44 of the leader.