Dani Holgado (2nd) on his duel with Ortola: “He made it very difficult for me”

On 2 July, the MotoGP team Gresini Racing announced the signing of Moto2 star Daniel Holgado for the 2027 season. The Spaniard will move up to the premier class next year, where he will embark on a new era alongside the Italian team – with new rules, 850cc bikes and Pirelli tyres.

Until then, the 21-year-old aims to bid farewell to the Moto2 World Championship this year with some strong performances. After a strong start to the season with third and first places in Thailand and Brazil respectively, Holgado went through a brief slump. It was not until Mugello that he made it back onto the podium in third place. This was followed by three more races outside the top three, with fifth, seventh and sixth places.

At the Sachsenring, he was hoping to secure another podium finish. In qualifying, Holgado secured 4th place, giving him a good starting position for Sunday’s race. At the start, he held onto 4th place and worked his way into the top three on the very first lap. At the start of lap 5, he squeezed past Boscoscuro rider Izan Guevara and was then the closest challenger to pole-sitter Ivan Ortola. In the final laps, Ortola and Holgado – with a comfortable lead over their pursuers – were locked in a close battle for victory. On the final lap, Holgado tried several times to get past his rival, but a minor mistake in the final corner sealed his fate. Holgado crossed the finish line in second place, 0.614 seconds behind.

“It was a very tough race, but I’m glad to be back on the podium after such a long time,” said the Spaniard after the race. “Tyre management was the most important thing: you had to know exactly how much you could push at every moment. You had to ride at 50 or 60 per cent and stay calm. I tried to attack in the first three laps to secure a good position, and then take it a bit easier so that I could think clearly on the bike. That worked well for me; I tried to conserve the tyres as much as possible, and in the last five laps I then tried to attack Ortola because my tyres were in better condition than his.”

Commenting on his duel with Ortola, Holgado added: “He made it very difficult for me – we both pushed the tyres to their limits – we braked very late into the final corner, and I nearly crashed. I’m disappointed that I couldn’t secure the win, but I gave it my all. The team did a brilliant job of getting us back to the front. I’m still motivated and ambitious to fight for victory again after the summer break.”

In the World Championship standings, Daniel is in fifth place with 115 points after eleven races this season – his team-mate David Alonso, who crashed at the Sachsenring, has just one point more to his name.