The mystery of Canet’s bowtie was just one sector away from being solved
Celestino Vietti (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) has extended his Moto2™ World Championship lead with victory at the Gran Premi Monster Energy de Catalunya, after passing Aron Canet (Flexbox HP40) on the last lap. Those two became locked in a duel for top spot after Joe Roberts (Italtrans Racing Team) crashed out of a seemingly comfortable lead halfway into the 22-lap contest at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, while Augusto Fernandez (Red Bull KTM Ajo) made it onto the podium with a final-lap pass of his own.
Fernandez’s move was on another rider who had spent time in first position during the race, Jake Dixon (Inde GASGAS Aspar Team), and the Briton would take the chequered flag in fourth position, ahead of Marcel Schrötter (Liqui Moly Intact GP) and Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Ajo). Ai Ogura (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia) finished seventh, meaning he retains second position in the World Championship but is now 16 points in arrears of Vietti rather than being behind on a tie-break only.
Roberts leads and the fight for the World Championship lead is on
Roberts made a good getaway when the lights went out but it was Dixon, braking late on the outside, who led the field in and out of the first corner. However, he held the position only until Turn 5, where Roberts went down the inside, while Canet took up third spot. Just behind them, Albert Arenas (Inde GASGAS Aspar Team) overtook pole-sitter Vietti for fourth as they ran through Turns 7 and 8.
That was how they ran as they completed the standing lap, before Canet picked off Dixon through Turn 4 next time through. At the start of Lap 3, the battle for the live World Championship lead between Vietti and Ogura, tied on points at the start of the day, began in earnest when the Japanese rider braked late…