Moto2 Aragon: Lopez triumphs, Gonzalez’s championship lead shrinks!

Following the Harley-Davidson Bagger World Cup and the Moto3 race, the third race of the day at Aragon took place at 12.15 pm: the 29 Moto2 riders lined up for their Grand Prix, a 19-lap race on the 5.077-kilometre MotorLand Aragon circuit.

Veteran rider Alonso Lopez held onto pole position on his Gresini-Kalex. Pramac rider Izan Guevara’s Boscoscuro was on the second grid spot, whilst Aspar rider Daniel Holgado completed the front row on his Kalex. Championship leader Manuel Gonzalez of the German IntactGP team started his home race from fourth on the grid in his Kalex. Fantic rider Barry Baltus received two penalties for his riding in qualifying and dropped from the third to the seventh row of the grid.

Alonso Lopez holds the lead, Ivan Ortola storms through the field

Pole-sitter Lopez held onto the lead at the start and navigated the first few corners ahead of Guevara. Ivan Ortola, who had not had a good qualifying session, made up a lot of ground at the start. Starting from 14th on the grid, Ortola stormed into the top 10 and emerged from the first lap in 8th place. IntactGP driver Senna Agius also produced a strong first lap and moved up to seventh position.

At the front, Lopez controlled the race and, after five laps, held a half-second lead over Guevara. Holgado, in third place, was already 1.3 seconds behind. Collin Veijer was running in fourth place. Behind them, Manuel Gonzalez and David Alonso were battling it out for fifth place. Senna Agius and Ivan Ortola were also within striking distance of the World Championship leader in fifth place. Ortola was setting the fastest lap times of all the riders at that point.

Collin Veijer on the rise

At the halfway point of the race, Veijer took third place from Holgado. There were also position changes further back: Agius overtook his IntactGP team-mate Gonzalez and pulled away. The order after ten laps: López ahead of Guevara, Veijer, Holgado, Alonso, Agius, González and Ortola.

Collin Veijer: Crash nach starkem Aragon-Debüt

Foto: Gold and Goose

Lopez’s lead at the front had increased to just under a second. Guevara was running in second place, but Veijer was closing in, with Alonso in hot pursuit, having overtaken his Aspar team-mate Holgado. Shortly afterwards, Holgado lost another position to Agius.

Veijer’s crash, a moment of panic for Gonzalez

On lap 14, Veijer had a few scary moments. Alonso capitalised on the Dutchman’s slips and moved up to third place at the start of lap 15. A few corners later, Veijer’s Ajo-Kalex ended up in the gravel trap. As a result, Agius moved up to fourth position. Team-mate Gonzalez made a mistake in Turn 1, misjudging his braking. This caused the World Championship leader to lose another position, dropping him to seventh. With four laps to go, Gonzalez got the better of Holgado and made up one position.

Lopez lapped at the front like clockwork, keeping Guevara at bay. The Moto2 veteran’s victory was never in doubt in the final laps. Behind him, however, the battle for second place became tense once again. Alonso pushed hard to catch Guevara. At the start of the final lap, Alonso was just one-tenth of a second behind.

Guevara/Alonso duel gives López breathing space

Alonso overtook at the Corkscrew, but Guevara countered. Alonso launched another manoeuvre at the end of the back straight, but Guevara countered once more and held on to second place. Senna Agius held off Ivan Ortola to secure fourth place. Championship leader Manuel Gonzalez crossed the finish line in sixth place, ahead of Daniel Holgado.

Izan Guevara (Pramac) rettete in Aragon Platz 2

Foto: Gold and Goose

Last year’s winner, Deniz Öncü, was already 14.2 seconds behind in eighth place. Alex Escrig and Adrian Huertas rounded off the top 10. The final points went to Daniel Munoz, Joe Roberts, Ayumu Sasaki, Celestino Vietti and Barry Baltus. Aron Canet disappointed once again and, 32.5 seconds behind, was recorded in only 25th place.

Platz 3 nach hartem Fight: David Alonso

Foto: Gold and Goose