Gonzalez leads from start to finish to claim back-to-back victories

The Autodromo Internazionale del Mugello – set in the beautiful Tuscan hills – was the scene of the Brembo Grand Prix of Italy this weekend. The Moto2 class once again provided a different pole sitter – that’s seven different riders heading seven grids so far this year – as championship leader Manuel Gonzalez (LIQUI MOLY Dynavolt Intact GP) took his first pole of the season ahead of Filip Salac (OnlyFans American Racing Team) and Alex Escrig (KLINT Racing Team).

Dani Holgado (CFMOTO Inde Aspar Team), Collin Veijer (Red Bull KTM Ajo), and Alonso Lopez (ITALJET Gresini Moto2) lined up on the second row, with Senna Agius (LIQUI MOLY Dynavolt Intact GP), Izan Guevara (BLU CRU Pramac Yamaha Moto2), and David Alonso (CFMOTO Inde Aspar Team) on row three.

The Moto2 riders lined up on the grid under sunny skies on Sunday morning, and as the lights went out it was Manuel Gonzalez who leapt off the line and into the lead of the race. Salac, Holgado, Escrig, and Ivan Ortola (QJMOTOR – Green Power – MSI) followed Gonzalez into the first corner, and there was an early end to the race for Aron Canet (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) and Xabi Zuratuza (KLINT Racing Team) who collided on the first lap with both of them unable to stay onboard their machines. Taiyo Furusato (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia) also crashed out of the race on the first lap.

Dani Muñoz (Italtrans Racing Team) was too hot into turn one on the second lap but managed to stay upright through the gravel and rejoin towards the back of the field, while Lopez put a rather hard move on Escrig to claim 5^th place. Lopez made contact with Escrig, causing him to crash and ending his race early – the incident was investigated by the stewards who decided that Lopez had been at fault and handed him a long lap penalty. Lopez duly completed the penalty on thee seventh lap, dropping from 5^th to 8^th and setting his sights on battling back towards the front of the group.

Meanwhile, Ortola had been carving his way through the leading group – he passed Holgado for 3^rd into turn one, before making the same move on Salac a lap later to take 2^nd place.  Ortola set about closing the gap to race leader Gonzalez, while pulling away from Salac and Holgado behind him.

Another rider making his way through the field was Celestino Vietti (MB Conveyors SpeedRS Team). The Italian had started from a disappointing 16^th on the grid, but clearly had the pace for more. He passed Veijer for 7^th place before taking advantage of a slight mistake from Guevara to move into 6^th on lap nine.

Lap twelve saw Holgado move up to 3^rd place ahead of Salac, while behind them Agius had made his way to the front of the chasing group and was closing in on the battle for the final podium spot. By lap seventeen, Agius had caught Salac – he passed him for 4^th place but ran wide handing the place back to Salac. Agius regrouped and was able to make his next move on the Czech rider stick, with Vietti soon passing Salac too.

Holgado was closing in quickly on Ortola for 2^nd place, and soon after Holgado had passed him Ortola raised his hand and moved to the side of the track to allow the chasing Agius, Vietti and Salac through. Ortola tried to continue but was forced to retire from the race due to an issue with his bike on the penultimate lap.  

Out at the front of the race Gonzalez was setting a metronomic pace and pulling away – his lead increased lap after lap until he had a 7 second lead heading into the final lap of the race. Gonzalez put in a perfect final lap and cruised across the line to claim his second victory in as many races and his 3^rd win of the season so far.

There was a battle royale for the remaining podium spots, with Vietti pushing Holgado wide to claim 2^nd and Agius taking advantage to move past Holgado too. Holgado was able to claim the final podium position as he out-dragged Agius to the finish line, leaving the Australian to settle for 4^th place.

Salac, Lopez, Guevara, Barry Baltus (REDS Fantic Racing), Veijer, and Deniz Öncü (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) rounded out the top ten.

Gonzalez extends his lead in the championship to 34.5 points ahead of Guevara, with Vietti a further 2 points behind in 3^rd. Agius is 15 points behind Vietti in 4^th place.

Moto2 returns to action for the Grand Prix of Hungary at Balaton Park next weekend – 5^th to 7^th June 2026.

Featured Image: motogp.com