Moto2 Japan Motegi Race: Japanese victory under the rising sun! Championship relaunched…

Arriving at the Japanese Grand Prix at the Motegi circuit, Augusto Fernandez (Red Bull KTM Ajo) was 7 points ahead of the stage local, Ai Ogura (IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia). Aron Canet (Flexbox HP40) returned to 37 points after his 2nd place in Aragón and the former leader Celestine Vietti (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) now has a deficit of 52 units.

On the Twin Ring Motegi, during a first dry session despite a few drops of rain, the future MotoGP rider Augusto Fernandez dominated his opponents by winning by 84 thousandths ahead of the Thai Somkiat Chantra (IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia) and almost 3 tenths ahead of his young teammate Peter Acosta (Red Bull KTM Ajo) winner in Aragón.

What followed the next day was an FP2 in the rain controlled by Fermín Aldeguer (CAG Speed ​​Up) in front Tony Arbolino (Elf Marc VDS Racing Team), Aron Canet, Filip Salač (Gresini Racing Moto2) and Jake dixon (Shimoko GASGAS Aspar Team) before the qualifications contested in Dantean conditions! During these, it was the same men who emerged from the waves, but in reverse order, Aron Canet taking pole position for the 3rd time this year (but still looking for a victory), Fermin Aldeguer, Jake dixon, Tony Arbolino, Somkiat Chantra et Filip Salač .

In the third line, we find George NAVARRO (Flexbox HP40), Cameron Beaubier (American Racing) and Kevin Kubo (Yamaha VR46 Master Camp Team) while we have to go as far as 11th place to find the championship leader Augusto Fernandez and in the 13th his main opponent, the local hero Ai Ogura who will attempt to become the first Japanese driver to win at Motegi in the intermediate category since Hiroshi Aoyama in 250cc in 2006, without even talking about Peter Acosta in 18th position!

 

Alone Aron Canet therefore knew how to take advantage of the Japanese typhoon, but the conditions changed and, this Sunday, a beautiful sun came to shine above the Twin Ring, allowing the poleman to also be the fastest during the warm up , in front Albert Arenas (Shimoko GASGAS Aspar Team), Fermin Aldeguer, Alonso lopez (Beta Tools Speed ​​Up), Will Bendsneyder (Pertamina Mandalika SAG Team) and Augusto Fernandez.

It's hard to believe, but it's sunny and even hot (23° in the air and 41° on the ground) when the 29 drivers prepare for the 22-lap race.

 

 

Motegi Moto2™	2019	2022
FP1	1'51.055 Brad Binder	1'50.493 Augusto Fernández
FP2	1'50.647 Alex Marquez	2'04.479 Fermín Aldeguer
FP3	2'03.259 Jake Dixon	XXX
Q1	2'03.132 Remy Gardner	2'05.543 Arón Canet
Q2	2'00.985 Luca Marini	2'04.939 Arón Canet
Warm up	1'50.996 Thomas Lüthi	1'51.100 Arón Canet
Course	Marini, Lüthi, Martin	Ogura, A. Fernández, López
All time lap record	1'49.961 Johann Zarco (2016)

 

When the red lights go out... Fermin Aldeguer made the best start but widened at the first corner, thus allowing Arón Canet to regain command.

 

 

The first round allows Ai Ogura to make an excellent start by jumping from 13th to 5th place.

 

 

In the next passage, Fermín Aldeguer, who occupied second position, made a minor mistake, leaving Aron canet detached in front Somkiat Chantra, Tony Arbolino, Ai Ogura and Alonso Lopez, themselves more than two seconds behind a peloton led by Jake dixon.

 

 

New twist in the next round: It's this time Aron canet who loses control of his Kalex at turn #9!

 

 

15 laps from the finish, we see a change of leader with Alonso lopez who gets the best Ai Ogura, Tony Arbolino and Somkiat Chantra, while the hunting party is now led by Augusto Fernández at 2 seconds.

 

 

The championship leader proves to be the fastest and quickly joins Somkiat Chantra before overtaking him 13 laps from the checkered flag.

At the halfway mark, Alonso lopez et Ai Ogura are one second ahead of Augusto Fernandez who took third place, while the peloton is now led by Jake dixon two seconds later.

 

 

The local hero Ai Ogura takes the lead with 10 laps to go!

 

 

Once in the lead, the Japanese driver picks up the pace and begins to escape in front Alonso lopez now caught up by Augusto Fernandez .

Very quickly, Ai Ogura is 1,7 seconds ahead of Augusto Fernandez who ended up getting the better of Alonso López.

The two leading men, who are playing for the championship, are fighting through stopwatches, with a gap of 1,6 seconds six laps from the finish. They each improve the best lap in the race but the gap remains almost stable, Ai Ogura not giving up under pressure from the Spaniard…

For his 3rd victory of the season, Ai Ogura thus becomes the first Japanese driver to win at Motegi in the intermediate category since Hiroshi Aoyama in 250cc in 2006, all before the eyes of all his Japanese bosses! We can assume that the 21-year-old has earned his move to MotoGP in 2024… 

 

 

In the championship, Augusto Fernandez (Red Bull KTM Ajo) now only has a 2 point lead over Ai Ogura (IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia)!

 

MotoGP Japanese Grand Prix results at Motegi:

Classification credit: MotoGP.com