Unexpected premiere of Roberts in Portimao after the red flag

A patch of water formed on turn 2 as it went through the ninth lap of the Portuguese GP’s Moto2 race led to an unexpected script change in a race where Arón Canet struggled to add his first victory to intermediate category for second consecutive GP. But what did the races have when it started to rain without warning the drama was happening in the form of ungrateful crashes, in this case massive and ended up leaving 12 riders in the race, the great cracks except leader Vietti who as He was late, he was saved from the burn and cemented to his second place after American Joe Roberts, fourth podium in five races, his leadership with 34 points against Ogura .

If Roberts wins his second podium and first victory at the Moto2 World Championship, the first for an American in the intermediate category in 32 years, Jorge Navarro will return to the podium in his third place, similar to what he achieved in August at Silverstone, his tenth always in the category.

From pole position Arón Canet defeated the initiative to Beaubier and Arbolino also overtook the Valencian when the first drops began to fall, but the Pons Racing rider soon regained second place so as not to lose the American trail he had caught in second step. by braking turn 1 when on the second step above the finish line rain flags appeared in some sections of the circuit, becoming from that moment on a survival race with slicks until it reached 2/3 career if it went to more.

Trying to break Canet’s career was suicidal, but he stayed ahead by controlling speed. Behind them was a trio led by Ogura with Augusto Fernández and Arbolino, the winner in Austin, fighting for third place. The Japanese released his comrades and joined the leaders.

the drama in the ninth turn

And on the ninth lap, on reaching turn 2, the melodrama came when the three suddenly fell into a puddle that had formed in the middle of the track, and Canet, Beaubier and Ogura fell in succession, and then they were all the ones They stepped on that patch, Arbolino, Augusto Fernández, Chantra, Lowes, Arenas, Acosta and Corsi, all fell at full speed and came to their senses according to the organization after the strikes between the bikes, the some of them were consumed by fire very quickly. place where they descend, at 150 km/h. To continue a 7-lap race, they had to reach the pitlane on time -in less than 5 minutes and without taking shortcuts-. And the top three in the race missed it like the others because they hadn’t restarted the bike and the ones that had arrived were already caught.

18 of the 30 pilots left

18 of the 30 riders who entered disputed the race with the first row with Dixon, who ‘saved’ a poor start from first third place on the grid, Roberts and leader Vietti, respectively 7, 8 , 11 while passing for the eighth lap, and they had second chances as Navarro (12th), Aldeguer (14th) and Alcoba (15th) made up the second set.

The win for the fishermen in 7 laps was recorded by American Joe Roberts, the first victory for a nation of stars and stripes in the intermediate category since John Kocinski at the 1990 Australian GP, ​​the second podium of his Moto2 racing.

Dixon held the initiative against Roberts and Aldeguer until he fell on turn 7 of the opening lap and now the promise to open the race is with Roberts. Schrotter and Navarro have already overtaken Aldeguer. In three laps the determined American scored 3 “6 against the German who was beaten by Navarro for second place and then Vietti for third and a lap later by rookie Manuel González.

Manugas, Alcoba and Aldeguer stand out

With two left, Navarro opened up and was overtaken by leader Vietti for second place, until seven riders fought for two free spots on the podium left by the American. Finally, Navarro didn’t want to take unnecessary risks on his first podium since August and took his third for granted. Manuel González signed his best performance, fifth in his fifth race in Moto2, with Jeremy Alcoba Sixth and Faithrmín Aldeguer seventh after losing a spot for the tread on the green, both repeating their best classification in Moto2. Marcos Ramírez fell in the fourth first lap.