The Japanese of Idemitsu Team Asia, Ai Ogura, continues to give reasons to the HRC leadership so that the bike in the Idemitsu LCR MotoGP is for him and to promote the current owner Taka Nakagami to work as a Honda tester. After carrying the brunt of the race, the 22-year-old rider had a spirited finish with his teammate Chantra and ended up with his second win of the year, which also gave him the lead in the world championship by one point against Augusto Fernández, only fifth. In the last corner of the race, Pedro Acosta lost third place to the British rider from GasGas Aspar Dixon.
From pole Ogura kept the initiative ahead of Augusto Fernández and Alonso López, but the Mallorcan lost six places after going through the chicane on this first lap where he lost pace and even his teammate Pedro Acosta caught up with him.
Ogura and López escaped from the chasing group pulled by Chantra and before completing the second lap the Madrilenian took the lead, but the Japanese was determined to add to the victory and take back the points from leader Fernández or take the lead -with 13 at the start of the race- he soon regained the race lead and from the sixth lap he changed pace, Chantra saw this and gave López a dangerous ax blow to try to stick to his teammate.
Behind in eighth place is Augusto Fernández, who was also beaten by the leader of the Qatar World Cup in Assen, Celestino Vietti, and placed behind Pedro Acosta and Arón Canet trying to regain his feeling.
For López, the Red Bull Ring was not the Silvetstone race he led until the last lap, Idemitsu’s crew took him by the hook and on the tenth lap Vietti left him without a provisional podium, finishing seventh.
In the remaining 12 Pedro Acosta, who will reappear in this Grand Prix after his serious fracture of the femur, including surgery, in his left leg in motocross training before Assen, surpassed Alonso López who inevitably continued to lose place, as well as Augusto, Canet and Dixon has overtaken him on the same lap. But the podium option for everyone gets complicated when Acosta pulls them 3″8 from Vietti’s temporary third box.
Nine from the end when Vietti was preparing to pass Chantra, the Italian crashed when he hit a pit and Acosta inherited a provisional third place with Canet behind him and Dixon, Fernández and López 1″ in behind them and trying to cut them off. Idemitsu changed course with Chantra honoring his teammate Ogura, second classified and virtual leader at the time, who had already trailed Acosta by nearly 7″ with seven to go when the quartet Acosta, Canet, Dixon and Fernandez joined.
Chantra was pulling over Ogura lap after lap and the world lead depended on that overtaking. Augusto took advantage of Canet’s mistake to take the fifth with two to spare. In the final lap the Thai continued to pressure the Japanese until he passed him, but Ogura finally got the better of him and took the win, his second of the year when Dixon threw Acosta off the podium in the final corner of career. Augusto fifth to give up the lead by 1 point.
As for the other Spaniards, Arón Canet is sixth, Alonso López is seventh, Albert Arenas is ninth, Jeremy Alcoba is tenth, Jorge Navarro is eleventh, Marcos Ramírez is 19th and Fermín Aldeguer crashed on the twelfth lap and Manu González on the seventh lap.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
