Moto2 Thailand Race: Ogura loses but wins the title

Moto2 is taking part in the eighteenth round of its championship this weekend in Thailand, and this weekend's event could go down in history. After letting a first match point slip away in Australia, Ai Ogura has a more than serious opportunity to clinch the world crown in Buriram. To do so, he will have to fulfil a number of conditions, facing the last three opponents he has left. After taking pole position, the Japanese has taken a serious option on the title!

Here is a table that summarizes the known facts:

Moto2™ Thailand, Buriram	2023	2024
FP	1'36.266 Pedro Acosta	1'35.897 Marcos Ramirez
P1	1'35.985 Pedro Acosta	1'35.192 Aron Canet
P2	1'35.297 Pedro Acosta	1'34.595 Ai Ogura
Q1	1'35.823 Filip Salač	1'35.017 Somkiat Chantra
Q2	1'35.371 Fermín Aldeguer	1'35.728 Ai Ogura
Course	Aldeguer, Acosta, Chantra (See here)	Canet, Ogura, Ramirez
All time lap record	1'35.297 Pedro Acosta 2023	1'34.595 Ai Ogura

Ai Ogura made an excellent start, and was in the lead after the first braking, but Aron Canet took advantage of the slipstream on the straight that followed to take control of the race.

On the first lap of the race, Ai Ogura saw the first of his last three title challengers falter, as Fermin Aldeguer collided with Tony Arbolino, automatically losing his mathematical title chances.

While Aron Canet is taking the lead, Alonso Lopez tries the inside on Ogura and Moreira, and pushes the championship leader off the track. The latter finds himself seventh, not enough to be crowned, since Aron Canet is then theoretically 49 points behind. Enough to spice up the race, since the Japanese driver must now fight if he wants to win the title in Buriram.

Author of a risky start to the race, Sergio Garcia does not represent a threat with the sixteenth position he occupies after four laps.

Ahead, Aron Canet finished the first third of the race in the lead, with a lead of four tenths over Marcos Ramirez. Jake Dixon and Diogo Moreira were fighting for the podium, eight tenths behind. It was then that Ai Ogura braked Darryn Binder after setting the fastest lap in the race. However, he touched the #15 who was forced to pull away.

Promoted to fourth after a mistake by Jake Dixon, the championship leader closes in on Diogo Moreira. On lap ten, he gets the better of the Brazilian in the slipstream. He is now 1.5 seconds behind the leading duo.

Behind, another man stands out in the peloton. Somkiat Chantra is catching up with his competitors one by one to move close to the top-5 at the halfway point.

Ogura laps in 1:35.6, faster than anyone else, and takes a second from Canet in just two laps. Only Ramirez then separates him from his main rival. The number 24 does not remain an obstacle for very long, however.

Canet's advantage will however double in the following loops, while a few drops of rain settle on the Chang track. Advantaged by more than two seconds, the victory already seems to be attributed to the Spaniard who is chaining the time trials with less caution than his opponent, who now wants to secure the title.

Behind, Marcos Ramirez is not threatening to overtake the Japanese, while he has a 2,5 second lead over Somkiat Chantra, who continues to animate the crowds thanks to the increasingly incisive maneuvers he is making against his rivals.

The conditions deteriorated further, and the gap between Chantra and Ramirez narrowed. However, the race management decided to stop the race when the local rider had come back to within a second of the podium. Enough to make him furious.

Up front, Ai Ogura was second at the time of the interruption. He became the first Japanese world champion since the 2009 season.

Moto2 Thailand GP Race Results in Buriram:

Classification credit: MotoGP.com