Acosta took a great one-on-one with Arbolino in Austin

A fifth victory in Moto2 will not be forgotten by the Murcian Pedro Acosta who celebrated the GP of the Americas in Austin dancing on his motorcycle during the lap of honor and with a mutual ‘chapeau’ gesture to Tony Arbolino, who despite losing his wrist continues to lead the championship by 7 points over the Spaniard . They shared the wins in 2023, the first and third for Pedro and the second for Tony. Dutchman Bendsneyder completed the podium, his first podium finish, after beating Alcoba and benefiting from touches in the final turn between Salac, Canet and Aldeguer.

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The first scare was taken by Aspar Jake Dixon who crashed out on the warmup lap due to cold tires at turn 10 and the race was over for him before taking his place in sixth place on the grid. Alonso López from the second row and Pedro Acosta overtook polesitter Cele Vietti who was losing ground and before the end of the first lap he was in seventh, clearly out of position on the grid. The first lap was not over when Acosta, determined, overtook the man from Madrid and the leader of the World Championship Arbolino was very attentive, but López fought for the second position, which allowed the ‘Shark ‘ to gain three tenths while from behind Canet also came. to complete the top quartet.

On the third pass through turn 12 Acosta had a washout due to an incorrect neutral entry and that allowed López and Arbolino to overtake him. But nine laps from the end, Alonso López started having problems keeping pace and he left Arbolino and Acosta alone. It was also difficult for Arón Canet to keep pace with the leading duo and they fell 1″3, which became 2″3 to eight from the end as Acosta again set the pace in the lead.

7 from the end Arbolino took the lead and Acosta did not lose half a second, but the Murcian responded well, preventing the Italian resident from escaping Barcelona’s Maresme. Behind him, Fermín Aldeguer and Jeremy Alcoba overtook Canet to fight for his first podium in Moto2, although the Valencian veteran has yet to say his last word.

With 5 from the end Pedro Acosta had a scare with a broken tire and he lost three tenths to Marc VDS, but with three from the end Arbolino slipped in turn 1 and it was now the Italian’s turn to chase down the Spaniard. When 12 arrived, Acosta returned the gift with new laundry.

The former two strong men of the Moto2 World Championship, both fighting for their fifth Moto2 victory, continued to play cat and mouse in increasingly difficult conditions due to tire wear. Arbolino led the final turn and defensive braking for the Italian in the first corners. Pedro tried it for the first time with eight corners to go and he succeeded and the Murcian closed the door well, winning by 146 thousandths in the final run for two.

The battle for the third drawer had an unexpected guest, the Dutchman Bendsneyder after the first corner touch between Salac and Canet and two corners after Canet to Aldeguer. And at 148 thousandths, Jeremy Alcoba lost the first Moto2 drawer of his life at the hands of the Dutchman.

As for the rest of the Spaniards, Fermín Aldeguer came in sixth ahead of López and Canet, Manu González in tenth, Albert Arenas 12th, Borja Gómez 20th, Izan Guevara 21st in his first Moto2 race after of his injury, David Sanchis 22nd and they retired Sergio García Dols with seven left and Marcos Ramírez with eight left