Dixon held off Championship leader Gonzalez to win the Argentinian Moto2 race, with Vietti in 3rd.

Manuel Gonzalez (Liqui Moly Dynavolt Intact GP) headed the Moto2 grid for the second round in a row, having out-paced Jake Dixon (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) and Marcos Ramirez (OnlyFans American Racing Team) in qualifying on Saturday. As the lights went out, both Dixon and Gonzalez made solid starts, but it was Britain’s Jake Dixon who took the lead into turn one, closely followed by Gonzalez, Ramirez, and Filip Salac (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team).

Having finished in the points last time out, reigning World Supersport Champion Adrian Huertas (Italtrans Racing Team) made an early exit, crashing out of the race at turn two.

There was briefly a Marc VDS one-two as Salac moved ahead of Gonzalez, but Gonzalez was soon back ahead of the Czech rider, and Dixon and Gonzalez remained at the front for the remainder of the race. Dixon took victory 3.5 seconds ahead of Gonzalez, with Celestino Vietti (Team HDR Heidrun) coming out on top of a fierce battle with Aron Canet and Marcos Ramirez to take the final place on the podium.

Brazilian Diogo Moreira (Italtrans Racing Team) entered the pits at the end of lap six, and rejoined the race a lap later, but ultimately failed to complete the race. Lap 11 saw a collision between the riders in fourth and fifth as Ramirez made a pass on Salac only to run slightly wide. As Salac attempted to take advantage of the gap and pass Ramirez back, the pair collided, with Salac crashing while Ramirez dropped back to sixth place as Vietti and Darryn Binder (ITALJET Gresini Moto2) took advantage of the Spaniard’s misfortune.

Behind the top six of Dixon, Gonzalez, Vietti, Canet, Ramirez, and Binder, there was a battle royale taking place as Alonso Lopez (Team HDR Heidrun), Alex Escrig (KLINT Forward Factory Team), Albert Arenas (ITALJET Gresini Moto2), Dani Holgado (CFMOTO Inde Aspar Team), and Tony Arbolino (BLU CRU Pramac Yamaha Moto2) fought hard for seventh place. It was Escrig who came out on top of the battle to take seventh place, with Lopez, Arenas, and Holgado rounding out the top ten ahead of Arbolino in 11^th. In spite of a strong start to the race for Arbolino’s Pramac teammate Izan Guevara, the 2022 Moto 3 Champion was the final point scorer in 15^th place.

Gonzalez maintains his championship lead, with 11 points more than Jake Dixon who moves up to second place ahead of Aron Canet. Dani Holgado was the top rookie in the race in 10^th place, and is the top rookie in the championship in seventh place.

Moto2 returns for Round three at The Circuit of The Americas in Texas, USA from 28^th to 30^th March.

Featured Image: motogp.com