Canet made up for a shocking start to win ahead of Deniz Öncü and Manuel Gonzalez

After chaotic wet conditions in the USA, the Moto2 riders rolled up to a dry grid for the fourth race of the season in Qatar. Manuel Gonzalez (Liqui Moly Dynavolt Intact GP) headed the grid and was joined on the front row by Championship leader Jake Dixon (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team), and Aron Canet (Fantic Racing LINO SONEGO)).

Gonzalez made the most of his pole position and was leading the race ahead of Dixon, Dani Holgado (CFMOTO Inde Aspar Team), and Albert Arenas (ITALJET Gresini Moto2). Aron Canet on the other hand had an appalling start, struggling to get off the line and dropping down to 15^th. Canet got his head down though and immediately began making up places on his competitors – he was 11^th by the end of lap 1, and into the lead group by lap 4.

Canet continued to pick off the riders ahead of him and was soon on the tail of race leader Deniz Öncü (Red Bull KTM Ajo). Canet followed the Turkish rider for a few laps before taking advantage of a small mistake from Öncü and taking the lead. He didn’t look back either – he started pulling away and started the final lap of the race with a lead of just over a second. The Spaniard held his nerve and took his first win of the season, with Öncü taking a well-earned 2^nd place having spent the final lap of the race fending off Manuel Gonzalez.

Rookie Dani Holgado had a brilliant ride to 4^th place, having battled in the top 3 for most of the race. Holgado showed good pace and wasn’t afraid of making passes on the more experienced riders around him!

Jake Dixon’s run of race victories came to a disappointing end for the Brit as he lost the front and slid out of the race on lap 13 to record his first DNF of the season. Dixon relinquishes the championship lead and drops to 3^rd – 12 points behind Canet, with Gonzalez 2 points ahead of Dixon in 2^nd.

There was a brilliant battle between Barry Baltus (Fantic Racing LINO SONEGO) and Diogo Moreira (Italtrans Racing Team) throughout the race, with Moreira just edging Baltus to finish in 5^th place. Celestino Vietti (Team HDR Heidrun) fought his way through to finish in 7^th place from 14^th on the grid, ahead of Marcos Ramirez (OnlyFans American Racing Team), Albert Arenas, and Filip Salac (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team).

Ayumu Sasaki (RW – Idrofoglia Racing GP) crashed out of the race on lap 3, before Darryn Binder (ITALJET Gresini Moto2) had a lucky escape when his bike appeared to shut off on the start-finish straight on lap 5 – the quick-thinking South African raised his hand to alert those behind him, who were able to react quickly and avoid a possible collision.

Having scored their first points of the season last time out, rookies David Alonso (CFMOTO Inde Aspar Team) and Collin Veijer (Red Bull KTM Ajo) recorded more points today in 11^th and 13^th respectively – the pair split by Zonta VD Goorbergh (RW – Idrofoglia Racing GP). Senna Agius had to complete 3 long lap penalties – double long lap penalty for a jump start, and an additional one for incorrect execution of the double long lap penalty – finished in 14^th, with Joe Roberts rounding out the points scorers in 15^th to take his first point of the season.

Moto2 returns for Round 5 at Jerez. The Gran Premio Estrella Galicia 0.0 de Espana takes place from 25^th to 27^th April.

Featured image: motogp.com