Moto2™: Tony Arbolino (Elf Marc VDS Racing Team) conquers COTA, Jake Dixon debuts on the podium.

There wasn’t much time to draw breath as the drama continued through to Lap 2, with Canet losing and then taking P2 back from Arbolino, before the Spaniard began to set his sights on the lead. The deficit between first and second had narrowed to just a couple tenths and P1 soon changed hands at Turn 9, with Canet taking charge of the race and Vietti slipping to second. Then, just a couple of corners later at 11, a Beaubier error allowed a host of riders through as he dropped to eighth in the standings.

The American wasn’t the only rider struggling to keep himself upright at COTA, with Simone Corsi (MV Augusta Forward Racing) the next rider to crash out at Turn 14, before Pedro Acosta’s (Red Bull KTM Ajo excellent race start, P10 to P5, was in vain, as he slid out of the race and the top five at Turn 6 – Riders OK.

Turn 6 then claimed another victim, this time in the form of Championship leader and race contender Vietti. It meant Arbolino and Dixon moved into the top three, and handed a comfortable advantage to new race leader Canet, but it didn’t last long. The Flexbox HP40 rider seemed to be cruising to a win before disaster struck on the eighth lap, losing the front end of his Kalex at Turn 7 to throw another twist in the tale of a fascinating Moto2™ race in Texas. As a result, three riders were thrust into victory contention, Arbolino leading Dixon and Ogura, but a classy performance from a cool and composed Tiger Tony ensured he opened up an unassailable lead over the next few laps.

For poleman Beaubier, what started out as a dream home race turned into a nightmare, as he cost himself a P4 finish and 13 valuable Championship points on the final lap, and handed Schrötter a first top four finish since the Valencia GP in 2020. Jorge Navarro recovered from a Long Lap Penalty to take a top five finish while Jeremy Alcoba made it two Liqui Moly intact riders inside the top six. Augusto Fernandez (Red Bull KTM Ajo) went from P18 to P9, but still finished behind Bo Bendsneyder (Pertamina Mandalika SAG Team) and Joe Roberts (Italtrans Racing Team).

A fine ride from Barry Baltus (RW Racing GP) saw him round out the top 10 ahead of Albert Arenas (Shimoko GASGAS Aspar Team) and Marcos Ramirez (MV Augusta Forward Racing). Manuel Gonzalez (Yamaha VR46 Master Camp Team), Filip Salac (Gresini Racing Moto2™) and Romano Fenati (MB Conveyors Speed Up) complete the points finishers.

The Grand Prix of The Americas certainly delivered Moto2™ drama by the bucketload in Austin, and next up for the intermediate class is a date in Portimao in two weeks’ time.

Red Bull Grand Prix of the Americas

Moto2™ RAC Classification 2022

1	25	14 Tony Arbolino	IT	ELF Marc VDS Racing Team	Kalex	152.2	39’06.5520
2	20	79 Ai Ogura	JP	Idemitsu Honda Team Asia	Kalex	152	+3.439
3	16	96 Jake Dixon	GB	Autosolar GASGAS Aspar Team	Kalex	151.9	+4.787
4	13	23 Marcel Schrotter	DE	Liqui Moly Intact GP	Kalex	151.3	+14.529
5	11	9 Jorge Navarro	ES	Flexbox HP40	Kalex	151.1	+16.347
6	10	52 Jeremy Alcoba	ES	Liqui Moly Intact GP	Kalex	151.1	+17.388
7	9	64 Bo Bendsneyder	NL	Pertamina Mandalika SAG Team	Kalex	151.1	+17.631
8	8	16 Joe Roberts	US	Italtrans Racing Team	Kalex	150.9	+19.784
9	7	37 Augusto Fernandez	ES	Red Bull KTM Ajo	Kalex	150.6	+24.595
10	6	7 Barry Baltus	BE	RW Racing GP	Kalex	150.3	+30.291
11	5	75 Albert Arenas	ES	Inde GASGAS Aspar Team	Kalex	150.1	+33.475
12	4	42 Marcos Ramirez	ES	MV Agusta Forward Team	MV Agusta	150	+34.785
13	3	18 Manuel Gonzalez	ES	Yamaha VR46 Master Camp Team	Kalex	150	+34.988
14	2	12 Filip Salac	CZ	Gresini Racing Moto2	Kalex	149.8	+37.786
15	1	5 Romano Fenati	IT	MB Conveyors Speed Up	Boscoscuro	149.7	+38.408
16		19 Lorenzo Dalla Porta	IT	Italtrans Racing Team	Kalex	147.2	+79.999
17		4 Sean Dylan Kelly	US	American Racing	Kalex	146.9	+84.437

Riders who did not finish first lap

		2 Gabriel Rodrigo	AR	Pertamina Mandalika SAG Team	Kalex	0	0 Laps
		35 Somkiat Chantra	TH	IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia	Kalex	0	0 Laps
		22 Sam Lowes	GB	ELF Marc VDS Racing Team	Kalex	0	0 Laps
		54 Fermín Aldeguer	ES	MB Conveyors Speed Up	Boscoscuro	0	0 Laps
		84 Zonta Van Den Goorbergh	NL	RW Racing GP	Kalex	0	0 Laps

Non-classified riders

		51 Pedro Acosta	ES	Red Bull KTM Ajo	Kalex	151.5	3 Laps
		28 Niccolò Antonelli	IT	Mooney VR46 Racing Team	Kalex	144.6	12 Laps
		40 Aron Canet	ES	Flexbox HP40	Kalex	152.7	7 Laps
		6 Cameron Beaubier	US	American Racing	Kalex	151.3	17 Laps
		61 Alessandro Zaccone	IT	Gresini Racing Moto2	Kalex	145.8	3 Laps
		13 Celestino Vietti	IT	Mooney VR46 Racing Team	Kalex	152.3	4 Laps
		24 Simone Corsi	IT	MV Agusta Forward Team	MV Agusta	146.9	2 Laps

Moto2™ Championship 2022.

1	13 Celestino Vietti	IT	Mooney VR46 Racing Team	Kalex	70
2	79 Ai Ogura	JP	Idemitsu Honda Team Asia	Kalex	56
3	14 Tony Arbolino	IT	ELF Marc VDS Racing Team	Kalex	54
4	40 Aron Canet	ES	Flexbox HP40	Kalex	49
5	35 Somkiat Chantra	TH	IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia	Kalex	45
6	22 Sam Lowes	GB	ELF Marc VDS Racing Team	Kalex	35
7	96 Jake Dixon	GB	Autosolar GASGAS Aspar Team	Kalex	32
8	37 Augusto Fernandez	ES	Red Bull KTM Ajo	Kalex	31
9	16 Joe Roberts	US	Italtrans Racing Team	Kalex	24
10	23 Marcel Schrotter	DE	Liqui Moly Intact GP	Kalex	23
11	9 Jorge Navarro	ES	Flexbox HP40	Kalex	23
12	75 Albert Arenas	ES	Inde GASGAS Aspar Team	Kalex	22
13	51 Pedro Acosta	ES	Red Bull KTM Ajo	Kalex	20
14	64 Bo Bendsneyder	NL	Pertamina Mandalika SAG Team	Kalex	17
15	6 Cameron Beaubier	US	American Racing	Kalex	16
16	52 Jeremy Alcoba	ES	Liqui Moly Intact GP	Kalex	14
17	54 Fermín Aldeguer	ES	MB Conveyors Speed Up	Boscoscuro	9
18	7 Barry Baltus	BE	RW Racing GP	Kalex	6
19	42 Marcos Ramirez	ES	MV Agusta Forward Team	MV Agusta	5
20	18 Manuel Gonzalez	ES	Yamaha VR46 Master Camp Team	Kalex	5
21	12 Filip Salac	CZ	Gresini Racing Moto2	Kalex	2
22	5 Romano Fenati	IT	MB Conveyors Speed Up	Boscoscuro	2
23	19 Lorenzo Dalla Porta	IT	Italtrans Racing Team	Kalex	0
24	24 Simone Corsi	IT	MV Agusta Forward Team	MV Agusta	0
25	4 Sean Dylan Kelly	US	American Racing	Kalex	0
26	81 Keminth Kubo	TH	Yamaha VR46 Master Camp Team	Kalex	0
27	28 Niccolò Antonelli	IT	Mooney VR46 Racing Team	Kalex	0
28	2 Gabriel Rodrigo	AR	Pertamina Mandalika SAG Team	Kalex	0
29	61 Alessandro Zaccone	IT	Gresini Racing Moto2	Kalex	0
30	84 Zonta Van Den Goorbergh	NL	RW Racing GP	Kalex	0