Ai Ogura has moved into the Moto2™ World Championship lead with victory in the CryptoDATA Motorrad Grand Prix von Österreich, even if Idemitsu Honda Team Asia team-mate Somkiat Chantra seemingly ignored team orders and attacked on the final lap. Chantra went down the inside at Turn 9, the second-last corner of the race, but Ogura re-passed him immediately at Turn 10 to collect 25 crucial points. There was similar drama in the battle for the final podium place, Jake Dixon (Zinia GASGAS Aspar Team) passing Pedro Acosta for third at Turn 10 also. Acosta therefore finished fourth on his return from a broken femur, one position up on now former Championship-leading Red Bull KTM Ajo team-mate Augusto Fernandez.

Ogura made a good start from pole position and took a clear lead to the first corner, while Alonso Lopez (CAG Speed Up) wrested second place from Fernandez at Turn 2a. Fernandez came under further attack in the opening stages, shuffled all the way back to eighth when Aron Canet (Flexbox HP40) went past at Turn 3 on Lap 2. Ahead, Chantra ran in third, from Dixon, Acosta, and Celestino Vietti (Mooney VR46 Racing Team).

Lopez overtook Ogura for the lead later that lap at Turn 9, but handed it back when he ran wide on Lap 4 at Turn 4. The Spaniard also ceded second place exactly two laps later when Chantra came in hot under brakes, making contact on his way through as he barely kept control of his bike. Meanwhile, Vietti had taken fifth spot from Acosta after an error from #51 on Lap 5 at Turn 5.

On Lap 7, Dixon ran long at both Turns 3 and 4, dropping all the way back to eighth position and hence promoting Fernandez back to seventh. The Briton’s first ‘moment’ also gave Vietti a look at Lopez, but those two drifted to 1.5 seconds behind the leading Honda Team Asia duo before the VR46 pilot assumed third spot when the Speed Up rider ran wide at Turn 4 on Lap 10.

Meanwhile, Vietti had been racking up fastest laps to catch up to second-placed Chantra. He looked likely to go past eventually until disaster struck on lap 17, when he crashed at Turn 3. The incident handed Chantra a five-second buffer over third place and while Vietti remounted, last of the 26 still running, he would eventually retreat to pit lane and retire.

Whether he saw that or not, Chantra decided that P2 was not particularly OK. He went for a pass on the 25th and final lap at Turn 9 and briefly got ahead, only for Ogura to come back down his inside at the last right-hander. They flashed across the finish line just 0.173 seconds apart, but that was not the end of the drama.

Dixon and Fernandez had got back up to fourth and fifth respetively, ahead of Canet, by the time they started the last lap, but the former was not done yet. Dixon made one unsuccessful attempt to pass Acosta midway through the final tour, but then got the job done at Turn 10 to snatch the final podium place.

The rest of the points finishers in 11th through 15th respectively were Jorge Navarro (Flexbox HP40), Barry Baltus (RW Racing GP), Cameron Beaubier (American Racing), Joe Roberts (Italtrans Racing Team), and Bo Bendsneyder (Pertamina Mandalika SAG Team), while Lorenzo Dalla Porta (Italtrans Racing Team) and Tony Arbolino (Elf Marc VDS Racing Team) were among the nine DNFs. They had been eighth and ninth when Dalla Porta was slow off Turn 3 on Lap 18 and Arbolino, with nowhere to go, crashed into him. As for Vietti, he is still third in the standings, but is now 27 points off top spot.

The title fight could barely be closer, and there is still so much left to play out this season! Catch Round 14, the Gran Premio Gryfyn di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli, on September 2-4.

Moto2™ Race Top 10:

1. Ai Ogura (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia)
2. Somkiat Chantra (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia) + 0.173
3. Jake Dixon (Zinia GASGAS Aspar Team) + 7.854
4. Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Ajo) + 7.960
5. Augusto Fernandez (Red Bull KTM Ajo) + 8.037
6. Aron Canet (Flexbox HP40) + 9.401
7. Alonso Lopez (CAG Speed Up) + 12.995
8. Marcel Schrötter (Liqui Moly Intact GP) + 18.254
9. Albert Arenas (Zinia GASGAS Aspar Team) + 20.661
10. Jeremy Alcoba (Liqui Moly Intact GP) + 22.227.

CryptoDATA Motorrad Grand Prix von Österreich

Moto2™ RAC Classification 2022

Red Bull Ring – Spielberg

, August 21st 2022

20º C

Cloudy

Track condition: Dry

Humidity: 62%

Ground: 22º

1	25	79 Ai Ogura	JP	IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia	Kalex	165.1	39’30.0700
2	20	35 Somkiat Chantra	TH	IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia	Kalex	165	+0.173
3	16	96 Jake Dixon	GB	Zinia GASGAS Aspar Team	Kalex	164.5	+7.854
4	13	51 Pedro Acosta	ES	Red Bull KTM Ajo	Kalex	164.5	+7.960
5	11	37 Augusto Fernandez	ES	Red Bull KTM Ajo	Kalex	164.5	+8.037
6	10	40 Aron Canet	ES	Flexbox HP40	Kalex	164.4	+9.401
7	9	21 Alonso Lopez	ES	CAG Speed Up	Boscoscuro	164.2	+12.995
8	8	23 Marcel Schrotter	DE	Liqui Moly Intact GP	Kalex	163.8	+18.254
9	7	75 Albert Arenas	ES	Zinia GASGAS Aspar Team	Kalex	163.6	+20.661
10	6	52 Jeremy Alcoba	ES	Liqui Moly Intact GP	Kalex	163.5	+22.227
11	5	9 Jorge Navarro	ES	Flexbox HP40	Kalex	163.4	+23.443
12	4	7 Barry Baltus	BE	RW Racing GP	Kalex	163.3	+25.793
13	3	6 Cameron Beaubier	US	American Racing	Kalex	163.1	+27.788
14	2	16 Joe Roberts	US	Italtrans Racing Team	Kalex	163.1	+27.909
15	1	64 Bo Bendsneyder	NL	Pertamina Mandalika SAG Team	Kalex	163.1	+28.347
16		28 Niccolò Antonelli	IT	Mooney VR46 Racing Team	Kalex	162.7	+34.611
17		Senna Agius	AU	Elf Marc VDS Racing Team	Kalex	162.7	+34.928
18		84 Zonta Van Den Goorbergh	NL	RW Racing GP	Kalex	162.6	+36.314
19		42 Marcos Ramirez	ES	MV Agusta Forward Racing	MV Agusta	162	+44.837
20		24 Simone Corsi	IT	MV Agusta Forward Racing	MV Agusta	161.7	+48.602
21		33 Rory Skinner	GB	American Racing	Kalex	161.7	+48.814
22		Taiga Hada	JP	Pertamina Mandalika SAG Team	Kalex	161	+59.204

		54 Fermín Aldeguer	ES	CAG Speed Up	Boscoscuro	160.1	5 laps
		13 Celestino Vietti	IT	Mooney VR46 Racing Team	Kalex	156.1	7 laps
		14 Tony Arbolino	IT	Elf Marc VDS Racing Team	Kalex	163.8	8 laps
		19 Lorenzo Dalla Porta	IT	Italtrans Racing Team	Kalex	163.8	8 laps
		12 Filip Salac	CZ	Gresini Racing Moto2	Kalex	162.7	15 laps
		18 Manuel Gonzalez	ES	Yamaha VR46 Master Camp Team	Kalex	161.8	19 laps
		4 Sean Dylan Kelly	US	American Racing	Kalex	159.4	20 laps
		81 Keminth Kubo	TH	Yamaha VR46 Master Camp Team	Kalex	159.6	20 laps
		61 Alessandro Zaccone	IT	Gresini Racing Moto2	Kalex	150.9	24 laps

Championship Standings Moto2™ 2022

Moto2™ Championship 2022

1	79 Ai Ogura	JP	IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia	Kalex	183
2	37 Augusto Fernandez	ES	Red Bull KTM Ajo	Kalex	182
3	13 Celestino Vietti	IT	Mooney VR46 Racing Team	Kalex	156
4	40 Aron Canet	ES	Flexbox HP40	Kalex	137
5	16 Joe Roberts	US	Italtrans Racing Team	Kalex	108
6	14 Tony Arbolino	IT	Elf Marc VDS Racing Team	Kalex	108
7	96 Jake Dixon	GB	Zinia GASGAS Aspar Team	Kalex	108
8	23 Marcel Schrotter	DE	Liqui Moly Intact GP	Kalex	96
9	35 Somkiat Chantra	TH	IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia	Kalex	92
10	51 Pedro Acosta	ES	Red Bull KTM Ajo	Kalex	88
11	9 Jorge Navarro	ES	Flexbox HP40	Kalex	75
12	21 Alonso Lopez	ES	CAG Speed Up	Boscoscuro	64
13	64 Bo Bendsneyder	NL	Pertamina Mandalika SAG Team	Kalex	62
14	75 Albert Arenas	ES	Zinia GASGAS Aspar Team	Kalex	52
15	22 Sam Lowes	GB	Elf Marc VDS Racing Team	Kalex	51
16	18 Manuel Gonzalez	ES	Yamaha VR46 Master Camp Team	Kalex	44
17	6 Cameron Beaubier	US	American Racing	Kalex	43
18	52 Jeremy Alcoba	ES	Liqui Moly Intact GP	Kalex	41
19	54 Fermín Aldeguer	ES	CAG Speed Up	Boscoscuro	38
20	12 Filip Salac	CZ	Gresini Racing Moto2	Kalex	21
21	7 Barry Baltus	BE	RW Racing GP	Kalex	20
22	19 Lorenzo Dalla Porta	IT	Italtrans Racing Team	Kalex	10
23	62 Stefano Manzi	IT	Yamaha VR46 Master Camp Team	Kalex	9
24	5 Romano Fenati	IT	CAG Speed Up	Boscoscuro	7
25	2 Gabriel Rodrigo	AR	Pertamina Mandalika SAG Team	Kalex	6
26	61 Alessandro Zaccone	IT	Gresini Racing Moto2	Kalex	6
27	42 Marcos Ramirez	ES	MV Agusta Forward Racing	MV Agusta	5
28	81 Keminth Kubo	TH	Yamaha VR46 Master Camp Team	Kalex	4
29	4 Sean Dylan Kelly	US	American Racing	Kalex	3
30	11 Mattia Pasini	IT	Inde GASGAS Aspar Team	Kalex	1
31	24 Simone Corsi	IT	MV Agusta Forward Racing	MV Agusta	0
32	28 Niccolò Antonelli	IT	Mooney VR46 Racing Team	Kalex	0
33	84 Zonta Van Den Goorbergh	NL	RW Racing GP	Kalex	0
34	Senna Agius	AU	Elf Marc VDS Racing Team	Kalex	0
35	33 Rory Skinner	GB	American Racing	Kalex	0
36	55 Alex Toledo	ES	Pertamina Mandalika SAG Team	Kalex	0
37	Taiga Hada	JP	Pertamina Mandalika SAG Team	Kalex	0
38	74 Piotr Biesiekirski	PL	Pertamina Mandalika SAG Team	Kalex	0

Credits : Photos and content courtesy of motoGP.com