Öncü holds off Baltus to win red-flagged Sachsenring race

The Sachsenring in Germany was host to the 11^th round of the Moto2 world championship this weekend, and after challenging weather conditions throughout Friday and Saturday, Sunday provided riders with a dry track for race day.

A very wet qualifying session on Saturday saw Jake Dixon (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) come through Q1 to claim pole position ahead of Barry Baltus Fantic Racing Lino Sonego) and Tony Arbolino (BLU CRU Pramac Yamaha Moto2), with Senna Agius (LIQUI MOLY Dynavolt Intact GP), Albert Arenas (ITALJET Gresini Moto2), and Deniz Öncü (Red Bull KTM Ajo) lining up on the second row.

The top three in the championship found themselves further down the grid than they would have expected, with Diogo Moreira (Italtrans Racing Team) starting in 25^th having failed to make it out of the Q1 session, Aron Canet (Fantic Racing Lino Sonego) lining up 12^th, while championship leader Manuel Gonzalez (LIQUI MOLY Dynavolt Intact GP) started his team’s home race in 16^th place.

As the lights went out, Jake Dixon looked as though he had taken the lead into turn one, only to be pushed wide by Senna Agius who had jumped the start. As Dixon regrouped in 7^th, Tony Arbolino was leading the race from Baltus, Öncü, and Agius, although Agius was soon dropped down the order as he completed the mandatory double long-lap penalty for his jump start.

Deniz Öncü soon made his way through into the lead of the race, only challenged briefly by Tony Arbolino who took the lead for a couple of laps before Öncü retook the lead and didn’t look back. Arbolino – having his strongest performance for a while – crashed out of 2^nd place on lap 7, leaving Baltus and Dixon sitting in the final two podium positions.

Öncü and Baltus began to pull a gap on Dixon in 3^rd place, and were not challenged for the rest of the race. Diogo Moreira – who had started 25^th on the grid – had made a remarkable run through the field and was attempting to pass Dixon for 3^rd place when he made contact with the Brit and sent himself wide into the gravel, and Dixon down to 4^th. Moreira rejoined the track right in front of David Alonso (CFMOTO Inde Aspar Team) who had no time to react and hit Moreira’s bike, ending both of their races early.

Dixon and Arenas were engaged in battle for 3^rd place on lap 20, with Dixon eventually managing to make a move stick on his former teammate. Lap 21 saw the race red flagged following a crash between Ramirez (Onlyfans American Racing Team) and Arenas. Ramirez lost control of his Kalex and hit Arenas into turn 1, and while both riders were able to get back up on their feet, the air fence had been damaged meaning that a red flag was thrown and the race – which was past 2/3 distance – was finished early.

Deniz Öncü took his second victory of the season, ahead of Barry Baltus – who is making a habit of finishing on the podium this season – and Jake Dixon. Manuel Gonzalez took 4^th place in spite of his poor grid position, while Celestino Vietti (Folladore SpeedRS Team), Joe Roberts (Onlyfans American Racing Team), Aron Canet, Izan Guevara (BLU CRU Pramac Yamaha Moto2), Ayumu Sasaki (RW – Idrofoglia Racing GP), and Filip Salac (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) rounded out the top 10. Senna Agius finished in 11^th following his double long-lap penalty.

Gonzalez’ 4^th place finish sees him extend his championship lead over Canet to 9 points, with Moriera remaining in 3^rd place 44 points behind Gonzalez.

Moto2 will be back in action for the Tissot Grand Prix of Czechia next weekend (18^th – 20^th July), as the championship returns to the Brno circuit for the first time since 2020.

Featured Image: Red Bull KTM Ajo