Agius wins at home ahead of Alonso and Moreira

The legendary Phillip Island was the venue for round 19 of the Moto2 World Championship and the Liqui Moly Australian GP. Following the dramatic disqualification of Manuel Gonzalez (LIQUI MOLY Dynavolt Intact GP) from the Indonesian GP last time out, the Spaniard arrived in Australia with his lead in the championship having been slashed to just 9 points, with Diogo Moreira (Italtrans Racing Team) hot on his heels.

Moreira entered the weekend with his confidence high – he won the race in Indonesia, and has been confirmed as stepping up to MotoGP next season. While he was obviously pleased that perhaps the worst kept secret in the paddock was now out, his focus for this weekend was clear – to continue working towards moving to the premier class as a Moto2 champion.   

Heading into qualifying, Gonzalez looked as though he had a mountain to climb having suffered two big crashes on Friday, resulting in plenty of lost track time. But he dug deep and managed to put in a lap right at the end of the Q2 session that would see him start on the front row of the grid in 3^rd, behind teammate Senna Agius (LIQUI MOLY Dynavolt Intact GP) in 2^nd, while Moreira took his second pole position in a row (and 6^th of the season).

There was another pair of teammates on the second row, as Jake Dixon (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) qualified in 4^th place, ahead of rookie CFMOTO Power Electronics Aspar Team duo Dani Holgado and David Alonso. Ayumu Sasaki (RW – Idrofoglia Racing GP), Aron Canet (Fantic Racing Lino Sonego), and Darryn Binder (ITALJET Gresini Moto2) lined up on the 3^rd row of the grid.

As race day rolled around, the often-unpredictable weather on Phillip Island was dry but windy. Senna Agius made an excellent start to lead the race from the off, and was followed into turn one by Moreira, Gonzalez, and Dixon. On lap three Agius ran wide, briefly handing the lead to Moreira, but the Australian quickly fought back to retake the lead. Gonzalez and Alonso took advantage of Agius’ move to pass Moreira too.

Senna Agius got his head down and started pulling away at the front of the race, while there was a monumental battle building for second place as Moreira, Dixon, Gonzalez, Canet, Holgado, Sasaki, and Albert Arenas (ITALJET Gresini Moto2) engaged in an almost race-long battle to join Agius on the podium.

Championship rivals Gonzalez and Moreira passed each other back and forth into turn one for several consecutive laps, before Gonzalez began tumbling back into the chasing pack, eventually dropping down to finish the race in 7^th place.

David Alonso got stronger as the race went on, and picked his way through the group to finish in 2^nd place, with Diogo Moreira crossing the line in 3^rd. But it was Senna Agius who sent the Australian crowd wild as he took the chequered flag to become the first Australian in Moto2 to win at home. Celebrating his second win of the season, Agius topped off his weekend with a “shoey” on the podium!

With Moreira taking a podium finish and Gonzalez finishing in 7^th place, the gap in the championship now sits at just 2 points in favour of Gonzalez, with 75 points remaining over the final three rounds of the season.  

Moto2 returns to action for the Petronas Grand Prix of Malaysia next weekend (24^th – 26^th October 2025).

Featured Image: motogp.com