Moto2 Malaysia Sepang Race: Blunder of the year for Ai Ogura? Victory for Tony Arbolino!

Never giving up allowed Ai Ogura (IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia) to leave the Australian Grand Prix with a lead of 3,5 points over Augusto Fernandez (Red Bull KTM Ajo) in the general classification of the Moto2 world championship, while the ex-leader was crushing the struggling Japanese in the race.

But the Spaniard, who was fighting for second place at Phillip Island, fell near the finish, thus seeing disappear the 20 points hoped for which would have allowed him to deliver a good blow to his team alone. opponent for the world crown.

This fleeting domination was repeated again during the first day of the Malaysian Grand Prix at the Sepang circuit, when the Ajo team driver literally crushed FP1 while the Honda protégé was thrown back by more than a second. But once again, the one who is called to take over Takaaki Nakagami in 2024 did not give up and, lap after lap, session after session, managed to raise the bar, even going so far as to win in FP3 then, and above all, in qualifying!

Aiming for a fourth victory, Ai Ogura will therefore start from pole position, with at his side Tony Arbolino (Elf Marc VDS Racing Team) already author of two successes in the Americas and in Thailand, and Aron Canet (Flexbox HP40), also third in the general classification but which is 50 points behind the championship leader and is no longer in the fight for the title. Ai Ogura qualified on pole for the third time in Moto2™️ with Spain and Austria where he went on to win the race. The Japanese can win the world title if he wins the race, and his only rival Augusto Fernandez does not finish better than 13th. A hypothesis that he does not neglect…

Ai Ogura : " First of all, I'm really happy for today's time. Yesterday we struggled to put a good lap together, but this morning we took a step forward, we improved the bike and on my side, and in qualifying we were able to ride well today. So, I'm really happy with today's session and tomorrow's race. I feel confident and I start from pole position. I'm going to push as hard as I can and we'll see what happens. »

 

 

The second row of the grid is made up of Jake dixon (India GASGAS Aspar Team) still looking for a first success, from the rookie Manuel Gonzáles (Yamaha VR46 Master Camp Team) which has recently shown some great things, and Augusto Fernandez.

The third row is made up of Somkiat Chantra (IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia), Peter Acosta (Red Bull KTM Ajo) and Cameron Beaubier (American Racing), Alonso Lopez (Beta Tools Speed ​​Up) completing the Top 10 after his victory at Phillip Island.

This morning, on a slightly damp track, the warm up highlighted Augusto Fernandez et Peter Acosta, While Ai Ogura was satisfied with the 25th performance: enough to maintain perfect suspense at the moment when the 29 drivers line up on the grid for the 18-lap race, under a gray sky and a few small drops of rain, but on a track for the moment still dry with temperatures of 31 degrees in the air and 38 degrees on the ground.

 

 

Moto2 Sepang™	2019	2022
FP1	2'06.300 Tetsuta Nagashima	2'06.816 Augusto Fernández
FP2	2'05.968 Jorge Martin	2'07.879 Manuel González
FP3	2'04.769 Brad Binder	2'06.635 Ai Ogura
Q1	2'05.897 Augusto Fernández	2'07.062 Joe Roberts
Q2	2'05.244 Alex Marquez	2'06.405 Ai Ogura
Warm up	2'05.904 Luca Marini	2'20.094 Augusto Fernández
Course	B. Binder, Marquez, Lüthi	Arbolino, Lopez, Dixon
All time lap record	2'04.769 Brad Binder(2019)

 

 

When the red lights go out... Tony Arbolino makes the best start in front Ai Ogura but the latter's teammate, Somkiat Chantra, is involved in a fall with Peter Acosta whileAugusto Fernandez finds himself locked in the peloton.

 

 

Alonso lopez is the one who benefits the most from the bazaar and finds himself third at the end of the first round.

 

 

The classification does not change in the following passages while a small train seems to be formed composed of Tony Arbolino, Ai Ogura, Alonso López, Manuel González, Jake Dixon, Augusto Fernández and Fermín Aldeguer, each of the wagons being relatively separated from the others.

 

 

Little by little, the two leading men escape, Ai Ogura content to follow at a short distance Tony Arbolino, and, as the halfway point approaches, the gap on the third place increases to five seconds.

This is the moment when Manuel González snatches third place from Alonso lopez.

 

 

Peter Acosta, who had restarted after the crash on the first lap, made another mistake eight laps from the checkered flag, still without seriousness.

 

 

Two laps later, six laps from the end of the race, Ai Ogura decides to take command of operations and double Tony Arbolino.

 

 

But the pressure is there for the championship leader and he makes a small mistake on the next pass, immediately giving back the leadership to Tony Arbolino.

 

 

Eight seconds behind the two leaders, four drivers are closing in for the battle for the third step of the podium: Alonso Lopez, Manuel Gonzalez, Jake Dixon and Augusto Fernández. Three laps from the finish, the latter decides to attack Jake dixon and puts pressure on him.

On your mind, Ai Ogura seems to have decided not to attack anymore Tony Arbolino, leaving him with the victory of the race, no doubt thinking of winning the championship…

However, while things seemed simple and acquired, Ai Ogura attack Tony Arbolino at turn #9 on the last lap and lost control of his Kalex, losing not only the race victory but also the championship leadership by 9,5 points!

Can we blame the Japanese for wanting to finish in style? Certainly not, even if he will undoubtedly be very angry about it! But after all, this mistake is very similar to the one that caused Augusto Fernandez in Australia…

 

 

Tony Arbolino (Elf Marc VDS Racing Team) obtains its 3rd victory of the year, after its two successes in the Americas and Thailand.

 

 

After a race more difficult than expected, Augusto Fernandez (Red Bull KTM Ajo) regains command of the championship, for 9,5 points.

 

 

Moto2 Malaysian Grand Prix Results at Sepang:

Credit ranking: MotoGP.com