Title glory and a one-two in the season finale for KTM Ajo as Ogura crashes out
Augusto Fernandez is the 2022 Moto2™ World Champion! The Spaniard finished second to Red Bull KTM Ajo teammate Pedro Acosta in the final race of the season, the Gran Premio Motul de la Comunitat Valenciana, but the title was already his by the time he took the chequered flag after Ai Ogura (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia) crashed out of second place on Lap 8. Tony Arbolino (Elf Marc VDS Racing Team) led for much of the 25-lap race and would eventually complete the podium at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo.
Half a point in it as Lopez gets his elbows out
Alonso Lopez (Beta Tools Speed Up) took the early lead from pole position, ahead of Acosta, Arbolino, and Ogura, who started the weekend trying to overhaul a 9.5-point deficit in the Championship. Fernandez took up fifth initially but lost the spot when Fermin Aldeguer (Beta Tools Speed Up) made an aggressive move at Turn 5 – and that was certainly not the only aggression in the opening stages.
Acosta passed Lopez as they started the second lap, but the pole-sitter dived straight back at him at Turn 2, making contact as he took both well wide. Lopez would be handed a conduct warning for that but the bigger implications were Arbolino assuming the lead and Ogura second place, from the Speed Up man, Acosta, and Fernandez – meaning the latter led the Championship, as live, by just half a point.
The race becomes even more treacherous
The stoush between Lopez and Acosta continued until the former ran well wide on Lap 4 at Turn 8 and dropped to fifth. He had no chance to recover when he ran wide again just three corners later and crashed out of the race. All of that meant that Fernandez’s live lead over Ogura was up to 2.5 points, until Cameron Beaubier (American Racing) passed the Spaniard into Turn 1 on Lap 6.
At the end of that lap, however, Ogura barely stopped himself from clattering into leader Arbolino at Turn 14, and Beaubier was indeed on the floor and out of the race, giving Fernandez some breathing space again. The Championship leader trailed third-placed Acosta by about one full second on the road, and the 2021 Moto3™ Champ looked to do his teammate a favour as he tried to pass Ogura on Lap 8.
The Japanese rider was either able to…