MotoMatters.com | Kropotkin Thinks

There were a couple of clear favourites going into qualifying for the intermediate class, but riders went a bit off script throughout. After leading the final practice session, Celestino Vietti took control early in Q2, while Pedro Acosta was not making waves initially, spending much of the session outside the top 10. However, the championship leader eventually went from 16th to 1st in the blink of an eye with three minutes remaining and Vietti answered with a pole-worthy lap that got cancelled due to yellow flags. The Italian didn’t give up and his final lap allowed him to snatch pole position on home soil by eight hundredths of a second. Acosta’s reply was hindered by some traffic and the Spaniard settled for second, while Manuel Gonzalez impressed with his first front row in the class after having to escape Q1. 

Aron Canet made a late jump into fourth position, two tenths off pole and joined by familiar wildcard Mattia Pasini and Alonso Lopez. The SpeedUp rider was on course to threaten for pole but a mistake and a late crash at turn 10 ended his session a little early and left him sixth on the grid. Joe Roberts opens the third row of the grid ahead of the Marc VDS duo of Sam Lowes and Tony Arbolino – the Italian escaping Q1 and climbing into ninth position.

Filip Salac completed the top 10 and shares fourth row with Somkiat Chantra and Q1 graduate Zonta Van Den Goorbergh, while a subdued Ai Ogura heads fifth row. Jake Dixon joined the action quite late in Q2 and struggled to put together a fast lap, ending the session in a rapid tumble at turn 13, leaving him 14th on the grid, ahead of Q1 leader Bo Bendsneyder. 

The big surprise of Q1 was Fermin Aldeguer, whose final lap mistake cost him a Q2 place for the first time this season, the Spaniard having to start 21st on the grid, ahead of compatriot Sergio Garcia. 

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Saturday got underway for the intermediate class with a new name at the top of the pile, Celestino Vietti taking the lead of the session with five minutes remaining, although the Italian could not go faster than Pedro Acosta’s benchmark from Friday. Aron Canet had a busy session, finding himself outside of the top 14 in the final five minutes of P3 but eventually made a big jump into second position. Jake Dixon followed a similar script, the Brit slow to improve his time from Friday but joining the top three on his final lap, posting an identical time to Somkiat Chantra in fourth position. 

Joe Roberts joined a top five covered by two tenths of a second, while Acosta was in no rush to go faster than on Friday and the championship leader settled for sixth in the session but still holding onto the top of the combined standings. Less than two tenths of a second separated the rest of the top 10, including Barry Baltus, Filip Salac, Jeremy Alcoba and Alonso Lopez, whose session ended with a slight crash at turn five. 

The remaining Q2 tickets were secured by Ai Ogura, Marcos Ramirez, Mattia Pasini and Sam Lowes, leaving the likes of Fermin Aldeguer and Bo Bendsneyder out in Q1. After an underwhelming Friday, Tony Arbolino was quick to join combined the top 14 on Saturday morning but then faded a back to 19th place and will be joining Q1 once more. The Italian ran out of time to improve as the red flag came up with 25 seconds left on the clock, due to Jeremy Alcoba’s bike stopping in the middle of turn 14 following a harmless crash for the Spaniard. 

A notable absence on Saturday was that of Albert Arenas, last week’s podium man declared unfit after dislocating a shoulder in a crash on Friday. 

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Results:

Results:

The intermediate class served us a good show in Catalunya, although just looking at the timesheets might not suggest that, with poleman Jake Dixon still at the top by the end of the 21-lap race. The British rider had to defend his second victory of the season until the final corner but eventually climbed onto the top step of the podium by two tenths of a second. Aron Canet begrudgingly accepted another second place, although he gave everything on the final lap to avoid that, while a jubilant Albert Arenas completed the podium for the first time in the class. 

Dixon had made a great start from pole position, with Manuel Gonzalez soon taking over the pursuit from Ai Ogura and Canet, while Alonso Lopez quickly progressed to fifth position, ahead of Sergio Garcia and Fermín Aldeguer. Pedro Acosta had made slight progress up to eighth place, with Arenas and Sam Lowes completing the early top 10 and Tony Arbolino being quite productive over the opening lap, going from 20th on the grid to 11th. 

Gonzalez made a short-lived attack for the lead on the second lap, but Dixon continued to lead the way, while a leading trio also including Canet were starting to stretch an advantage of seven tenths of a second over the pursuit led by a feisty Lopez. The Spaniard also had Acosta, Garcia and Arenas in tow, while Aldeguer led a third group another seven tenths back, including the Marc VDS duo, although Arbolino soon started losing ground on his teammate.  

Back at the front, Gonzalez eventually made a move stick at turn one, at the start of lap five, and Canet also saw an opportunity to attack the poleman at turn four. Some close exchanges just behind them saw Acosta come out on top in the battle for fourth and the championship leader quickly picked up the pace and started to close the gap to the leading trio, ditching the rest of the pursuit. Meanwhile, rival Arbolino was starting to fade already, running wide at turn five and dropping to 15th position. While the trio at the front became a quartet, all eyes were on the squabble for fifth, where Arenas swapped paint with Garcia, and the fight for seventh, where Lopez was kept busy by Ogura, Aldeguer and Lowes, although Aldeguer had to give up that fight a few laps later, after serving a long lap penalty for track limits. 

The next change at the front came at the start of lap 10, when Canet took over from Gonzalez and Acosta demoted Dixon for third, in synchronised moves at the first corner. While Canet was attempting to extend a safe gap at the front, Acosta further relegated Gonzalez at turn 10 and went in pursuit of Canet, with Gonzalez losing third to Dixon three laps later. Acosta bided his time until eight laps were left, when he traded places with his compatriot at turns 10 and 11, before Dixon decided to join the party with six laps remaining and challenge Canet. Despite the squabble behind him, Acosta could not take advantage as he appeared to struggle to keep the pace at the front. Arenas also became a threat in the background, getting past a fading Gonzalez and finding himself only four tenths behind the leader.

Canet restarted the battle with five laps remaining, attacking Acosta at the final corner, with Acosta responding at turn one but having to relinquish the lead again at turn four, when both Canet and Dixon got past. The championship leader soon saw his teammate’s rear wheel and he continued to fade behind Gonzalez as well, having to regroup from fifth place.

Meanwhile, Canet and Dixon engaged in battle for the lead and the poleman was back in control with four laps remaining. Canet did not look like giving up, glued to the Brit’s rear tyre and biding his time until the final lap, but Dixon closed every gap and the Spaniard never got another chance to attack for victory. Arenas claimed his first podium eighth tenths of a second later, while a rapid Garcia demoted Gonzalez on the penultimate lap. The fading Acosta had a tricky last few laps, a near tangle with Lopez at the first corner dropping him to sixth place, while Ogura, Lopez, Lowes and Vietti completed the top 10. 

Arbolino took the chequered flag in a lonely 17th position, but Acosta’s late struggles only increased the Spaniard’s advantage in the world championship to 22 points, with victor Dixon another 22 points behind the Italian. 

Results: 

The intermediate class seemed to enjoy the surprisingly sunny conditions around Barcelona and consistently improved throughout their final practice session. With minor gaps within the field, the lead changed hands quite often towards the end of P3, until Jake Dixon gained an advantage of over four tenths of a second that had no match for the remaining couple of minutes. That demoted Aron Canet to second, with Ai Ogura third – Friday’s leader half a second off Dixon’s time. 

Another pleasant surprise was Marcos Ramirez, the change of scenery serving him well as he settled for fourth after spending most of the session towards the top end of the timing screens. Albert Arenas also did a shift at the front before dropping to fifth, while Celestino Vietti made a very late bid for sixth position. Pedro Acosta opened proceedings by taking over the combined timesheets but couldn’t reclaim it in the end and settled for seventh. 

Fermín Aldeguer, Manuel Gonzalez and Alonso Lopez completed a tight top 10, with the remaining Q2 tickets claimed by Sam Lowes, Jeremy Alcoba, Joe Roberts and Zonda Van Den Goorbergh. Filip Salac missed out by two hundredths of a second, but the big surprise of the session was Tony Arbolino, the Italian going backwards throughout the session and although he improved towards the end, it was only good enough for 21st on the combined standings, over a second off the leader. 

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Results:

After appearing to be pretty much untouchable throughout the weekend in Austria, there were high expectations of Pedro Acosta and the Spaniard wasn’t far from meeting them – had it not been for a surprising Celestino Vietti, surging from the crowd to challenge the world championship leader and eventually secure his first victory of the season. Acosta admitted defeat after a few hairy moments and settled for second, with Ai Ogura taking the remaining podium position. 

Acosta had made a dream start, keeping the lead from pole position, while Dixon launched straight into second, ahead of Ogura. Tony Arbolino also made good progress up into fourth at the opening corner, getting ahead of Vietti, who lost a couple places off the tile. A slight gap was already starting to appear over the rest of the early top 10 composed of Fermín Aldeguer, Somkiat Chantra, a fast-starting Alonso Lopez, Filip Salac and Albert Arenas. 

By lap three, Acosta had a four-tenth buffer over Dixon and Ogura, with Vietti just about hanging on half a second back, but decisively dropping Arbolino over a second behind. Despite his excellent start, the Marc VDS quickly started losing ground, gifted away another position to Chantra and was left with a gap of 1.5 seconds to manage over the next group led by Salac. That group soon turned into a solo act, as both Lopez and Arenas crashed on lap five.

Back at the front, Ogura was keen to stop Acosta’s charge and took over the pursuit from Dixon at turn three, but the repeated exchanges between them allowed the Spaniard almost two seconds of breathing room by lap eight, while also bringing Vietti back into the podium battle. The Italian had a go at Dixon one lap later, to claim third at the first corner. While Chantra was enjoying some clear air in fifth position, Salac had caught up with Arbolino and soon demoted him to seventh, one second ahead of Aldeguer. Teammates Sergio Garcia and Aron Canet rounded out the top 10 at that stage but Canet’s race ended a handful of laps later, at turn nine.

Once he got settled in second position, Ogura attempted to reel in Acosta and to his credit he managed to bring the gap down to 1.2 seconds but the poleman quickly picked up the pace to halt his rival’s progress. While Vietti was biding his time for an attack on the Honda Team Asia rider, Dixon dropped out of podium contention. Vietti eventually made his move at turn four to take second with 11 laps remaining and immediately sped up to reduce the leader’s advantage by a few tenths. Acosta got the message and was nearly matching the Italian’s lap times but that didn’t stop the gap from dropping to under a second for the first time with seven laps left. 

With Vietti colouring the timing screens red, Acosta’s advantage was evaporating, not helped by a moment at turn two, and the Spaniard soon received a track limits warning to add to his worries. Only one lap later the gap was under half a second and the Italian was glued to Acosta’s rear wheel with six laps left, immediately making his move at turn six. Acosta made a faint attempt to retaliate straight away but then settled for staying on Vietti’s tail over the next couple of laps. The duo were nearly inseparable on pace, but after a near contact at turn nine, Acosta lost a bit of ground and had to decide if the risk was worth regrouping for an attack.

Vietti started the final lap six tenths ahead of the Spaniard and gave one final push to increase that gap to a full second by sector three and take the chequered flag a second and a half ahead. Acosta settled for second, while Ogura secured a lonely third, nearly four seconds later. Dixon and Chantra didn’t see much action in the latter part of the race but completed the top five, while Arbolino reclaimed sixth from Salac with nine laps remaining, aided by a mistake from the Czech rider. Garcia, Aldeguer and Lukas Tulovic rounded out the top 10 positions. 

Although the lederhosen celebration ended up being for second place, Acosta extends his advantage in the world championship to 12 points over Arbolino, with Dixon 59 points back and Canet losing further ground, leaving him with an 80-point deficit.

Results: 

Following the example of their lightweight class colleagues, the intermediate class were not short on drama either, with favourite Pedro Acosta taking an early tumble at turn two, before even getting a lap on the board. The Spaniard was able to rejoin and headed straight to the top of the pile with two minutes left of the session and three tenths of second’s advantage. The closet challenger was Ai Ogura, who was denied pole but still secured his best qualifying position of the season, while Celestino Vietti continued his solid run in Austria with a front row start from third. 

Jake Dixon got past the disappointment of Silverstone and is back on track for victory from fourth on the grid, ahead of Somkiat Chantra and Fermín Aldeguer – the front two rows covered by over half a second. Tony Arbolino didn’t spend much time in the spotlight, but the Italian opens the third row of the grid from Albert Arenas and Manuel Gonzalez, who managed to turn his weekend around. 

Aron Canet joined Acosta on the crash list early on but wasn’t as fortunate as his compatriot and dropped to 10th position, sharing fourth row with Alonso Lopez, who also took a late tumble, and Filip Salac. Zonta van den Goorbergh opens fifth row ahead of Sam Lowes, the British rider raising yellow flags in the final moments of Q2 after a crash at turn 10, and Q1 graduate Darryn Binder. The rest of the Q1 escapees make up row six, with Sergio Garcia ahead of Dennis Foggia and Lukas Tulovic, while Izan Guevara missed out on Q2 by four hundredths of a second. 

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