Holgado takes maiden win ahead of Jake Dixon and Dani Muñoz

Round 15 of the Moto2 championship took place this weekend with the Monster Energy Grand Prix of Catalonia at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Dani Holgado (CFMOTO Impulse Aspar Team) secured his first official Moto2 pole position – having started from pole due two rounds ago due to a penalty for another rider. Jake Dixon (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) claimed second place on the grid, with Collin Veijer (Red Bull KTM Ajo) making it two rookies on the front row in third.

There was a plethora of penalties handed out following qualifying, with five riders being given grid penalties for a second offence of slow riding. Barry Baltus (Fantic Racing Lino Sonego), Tony Arbolino (BLU CRU Pramac Yamaha Moto2), Darryn Binder (ITALJET Gresini Moto2), Albert Arenas (ITALJET Gresini Moto2), and race winner last time out David Alonso (CFMOTO Impulse Aspar Team) all found themselves starting nine positions further back than they had qualified.

Championship contenders Aron Canet (Fantic Racing Lino Sonego), Manuel Gonzalez (LIQUI MOLY Dynavolt Intact GP), and Diogo Moreira (Italtrans Racing Team) lined up in 7^th, 10^th, and 11^th respectively.

Holgado grabbed the holeshot to lead into turn one, while Gonzalez made a cracking start to move up to 3^rd. There was early chaos for Salac (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) and Sasaki (RW – Idrofoglia Racing GP) at turn four of the first lap, with Salac being pushed wide and dropping down the field, while Sasaki crashed out of the race a few seconds later.

Out front, Holgado had got his head down and was running a steady pace to hold onto his lead ahead of Dixon, Izan Guevara (BLU CRU Pramac Yamaha Moto2), and Gonzalez, while Dani Muñoz – in for Deniz Öncü at Red Bull KTM Ajo – was picking off riders as he made his way through the pack. By lap four, Muñoz was the fastest man on track, and was up to 3^rd place, before passing Dixon for 2^nd on lap six.

Jorge Navarro (KLINT Forward Factory Team) crashed on lap nine, taking Filip Salac with him and ending both of their races in the gravel, before Aron Canet crashed out of the race on lap twelve. Championship leader Gonzalez had an almost race-long battle with Guevara, before eventually making a move for 4^th place stick on lap 17.

Celestino Vietti (Beta Tools SpeedRS Team) made steady progress through the field – having started 15^th, the Italian finished the race in 6^th, while David Alonso also made up several places to finish 8^th from 16^th on the grid. Diogo Moreira’s less than ideal race went from bad to worse when he was handed a late long lap penalty for exceeding track limits two laps from the end of the race. Moreira completed the penalty and dropped down to 14^th having already been running outside of the top 10.

Dixon made his move for 2^nd place on the penultimate lap, passing Muñoz and immediately beginning to pull away from him to finish the race in 2^nd place, with Muñoz claiming his first podium in the class in 3^rd. But it was rookie Dani Holgado who was the star of the show today – leading from start to finish (and even taking the time to wave to the fans through the final few corners of the race) to take his maiden Moto2 victory in a dominant fashion. Holgado’s maiden win comes just one round after fellow rookie – and teammate – David Alonso took his own maiden win.

With Canet crashing out and Moreira finishing in 14^th, Gonzalez’ fourth place finish was enough to further extend his championship lead to 38 points over Canet, with Moriera four points behind Canet in 3^rd.

Moto2 returns to action next weekend (12^th – 14^th September) for the Red Bull Grand Prix of San Marino and the Rimini Riviera at Misano.

Featured Image: Aspar Team