The young Spaniard leads from the second corner to the chequered flag to take his maiden Grand Prix win
Alonso Lopez has become a Grand Prix winner with victory in the Moto2™ race at the Gran Premio Gryfyn di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini. The now 20-year-old Spaniard lost his Moto3™ seat at the end of 2020 before a mid-season call-up to replace Romano Fenati at +Ego Speed Up this year. He has now repaid the faith with a superb ride at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli, winning by 1.253 seconds after 25 laps. Aron Canet (Flexbox HP40) finished second and Augusto Fernandez (Red Bull KTM Ajo) reclaimed the World Championship lead with a third place.
Ai Ogura (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia) is now second in the standings at four points back after finishing fifth in Round 14 of the season but Celestino Vietti’s title hopes took a big blow when he crashed while in contention for the podium, and he would ultimately retire for a fifth time this year. The Mooney VR46 Racing Team rider once led the Championship but has now dropped to fourth, 42 points off top spot and one behind Canet.
Lopez launched well enough from third on the grid and while he went deep into Turn 1, he emerged with the lead, ahead of Albert Arenas (Inde GASGAS Aspar Team) and pole-sitter Vietti. Despite attacks from behind, that was where Vietti finished the standing lap, ahead of Canet, Ogura, Fermin Aldeguer (+Ego Speed Up), and Fernandez.
Fernandez put a move on Aldeguer through the quick Turn 15 on Lap 2 and set about trying to catch up to the top five, before Canet passed Vietti at his second attempt and was into third spot at Rio (Turn 4) on Lap 6. He soon got ahead of Arenas too, but only briefly on Lap 7, and their battle allowed Lopez to skip several tenths of a second clear. It was soon a full second, as Vietti re-passed Canet at Tramonto (Turn 10) on Lap 8 and then Canet returned the favour at Rio on Lap 9.
Vietti crashes as the Championship lead changes again
Vietti could forget about trying to catch up to Lopez when he lost the front of his VR46-entered Kalex and crashed out of fourth position just a lap later at the Rio corner. That meant Fernandez’s overtake on Ogura at Rio on Lap 11 was for fourth position – and the live World Championship lead. Meanwhile, in what had been a race of attrition, Aldeguer…