Jake Dixon is back to winning ways in Moto2. This Sunday, the British rider came out on top in an exciting battle until the end of the Catalan GP race, where Albert Arenas made his podium debut.
At the start, Dixon (GasGas Aspar/Kalex) capitalized on the pole position to stay in the lead, while Manuel González (Correos Prepago Yamaha VR46 Master Camp/Kalex) moved up to second, swapping positions with Ai Ogura (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia/Kalex).
The Japanese rider would lose positions to Arón Canet (Pons Wegow Los40/Kalex) and Alonso López (Beta Tools SpeedUp/Boscoscuro) in the early laps. At the front, Dixon kept his lead, although he couldn’t shake off the pressure from González. The Spanish rider managed to take the lead on the fifth lap, with Dixon also losing a position to Canet. Meanwhile, Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Ajo/Kalex) moved up to fourth.
The positions stabilized in the following laps, but the gaps were close. Changes occurred with 12 laps to go, with Canet overtaking González, and Acosta moving ahead of Dixon to reach the podium positions. At this stage, Acosta seemed to be in control, and one lap later, he overtook González. Further back, his main championship rival, Tony Arbolino (Elf Marc VDS/Kalex), was struggling and was outside of the points-scoring positions.
On the 13th lap, Dixon returned to the podium positions by overtaking González. Acosta took the lead with seven laps to go, and shortly after, Canet lost the second position to Dixon for a brief moment. These three riders formed a tight group at the front, with Arenas (Red Bull KTM Ajo/Kalex) not far behind.
With five laps to go, Acosta’s performance declined, and he quickly dropped to fifth. Canet returned to the lead but was immediately overtaken by Dixon. Arenas moved up to third, hinting at his first podium in Moto2.
The race was lively and uncertain, with the top five riders fitting within less than a second. Canet and Dixon took turns leading. Three laps from the end, at turn one, the battle between Acosta and López slowed them both down, with the second Spanish rider forcing the championship leader off the track. Two laps from the finish, Sergio García (Pons Wegow Los40/Kalex) completed his recovery by overtaking González to take fourth place.
The battle for victory extended to the final corners, with Dixon coming out on top to return to the winning ways. Canet finished second, 0.205s behind. Arenas completed the podium, followed by García and González. Acosta finished sixth but still gained many points on Arbolino, who was only 17th and did not score any points.