Moto2: Tony Arbolino Wins a Red Flagged Race in Thailand.
By Dawn Hammersley
Tony Arbolino Takes his Second Victory of the Season After the Moto2 Race was Red Flagged Due to Adverse Weather Conditions.
Compatriot rider Somkiat Chantra claimed his first pole position of the 2022 season, ELF Marc VDS Racing Team’s Tony Arbolino qualified in second place, with IDEMITS Honda Ream Asia’s Ai Ogura qualifying in third place.
On the grid it began to rain heavily so the Rain On Grid Procedure took place, and the start was delayed by ten minutes with the race distance reduced to two-thirds which was 16 laps.
Lights out and it was Somkiat Chantra who steadily lead the field into turn one, conditions were treacherous! Cameron Beaubier crashed out at turn four from third place.
Chantra crashed out of the lead on lap two at turn four, Alonso Lopez was now leading, Canet was in second place with Britain’s Jake Dixon in third place.
Alonso ran wide at turn five handing the lead to Canet, turns four and five were the corners where there was a lot of standing water, the rain was continuing to fall in most sectors of the circuit.
With 11 laps remaining to the race Filip Salac took the lead from Canet, Jake was coming under pressure from Tony Arbolino; a lap later he got into second place. Pedro Acosta was down in 16th place; the Spaniard ran wide at turn one on the opening lap. Sam Lowes was way down the field as the British rider was returning from injury.
Nine laps to go and Salac ran wide at turn 12, Arbolino was now in the lead. As Tony crossed the start-finish line the race was Red Flagged due to the adverse weather conditions. The race was to be restarted over five laps.
The riders did a sighting lap, but the weather was still too treacherous, so the race was declared a result with Tony Arbolino winning the race, Salac was second, with Canet in third place, Jake Dixon was fourth.
Featured Images: MotoGP.com.