Half points awarded after the rain pours and pours and pours down
Torrential rain caused high drama at the OR Thailand Grand Prix and it was Tony Arbolino who was eventually classified the winner of a shortened Moto2™ race. The Elf Marc VDS Racing Team rider had just passed Filip Salac (Gresini Racing Moto2™) for the lead at the end of Lap 8 around the Chang International Circuit when the contest was red-flagged. After two attempts to re-start, Race Direction ultimately decided to award half points. Nevertheless, Arbolino, Salac, and Aron Canet (Flexbox HP40) can count themselves as Thai GP podium finishers, while Ai Ogura (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia) gained half a point on World Championship leader Augusto Fernandez (Red Bull KTM Ajo) when they were locked into sixth and seventh in the final results.
Bucketing down in Buriram
A downpour just minutes before the scheduled start time saw the race declared wet, and crews swapped slick tyres for wets on the grid as the scheduled distance was cut from 22 to 16 laps. Conditions were ultra-challenging when riders did eventually get lights out and pole-sitter Chantra emerged with the lead as they exited Turn 1, ahead of Alonso Lopez (Beta Tools Speed Up) and Ai Ogura (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia).
Cameron Beaubier (American Racing) overtook Ogura for third at Turn 3 and was second when he went past Lopez through Turn 4 but, no sooner had he done so, he touched the ever so slippery paint on exit and crashed. Aron Canet (Flexbox HP40) was charging through the field, coming all the way from 18th on the grid to pass Jake Dixon (Inde GASGAS Aspar Team) for fourth at Turn 8. When Filip Salac (Gresini Racing Moto2™) went wide at Turn 12 at the end of the opening lap, Canet inherited third position and Dixon fourth.
Chantra had sent his home crowd crazy with his pole on Saturday afternoon but there was heartbreak all-round on Lap 2 when he lost the rear through Turn 4 and crashed out of the lead. Lopez was the new front-runner, from Canet, Dixon, Salac, Ogura, Joe Roberts (Italtrans Racing Team), Arbolino, and Augusto Fernandez (Red Bull KTM Ajo). On the following lap, Canet tried a move on Lopez at Turn 8 and while he could not get it done there, the Boscoscuro pilot handed over the lead when he ran wide at Turn 5 on Lap 4.
Salac passed Dixon into Turn 12 at the…