Pedro takes the win! El Tiburon menacing in Mugello.

June 8, 2022

Moto2 Gran Premio d’Italia Oakley. Mugello 2022

Qualification:

The very experienced Aaron Canet put his Flexbox HP40 Kalex in pole position. After leading and crashing out at Le Mans, rookie Pedro Acosta showed his pace and took P2, with Sam Lowes P3.

The Race:

Aron Canet made a clean start and took the lead… until Pedro Acosta out braked him into the first corner, with Canet then P2 and Sam Lowes P3, as the race pace settled into the first lap. Joe Roberts made a good start from P7 to P5 with Ai Ogura in P6.

Nineteen laps to go and Acosta got a wobble on over the kerbs, allowing Canet through to lead, with Sam Lowes stalking them both, perhaps waiting for another “moment” for the leaders. Having gathered himself, Acosta soon retook the lead, Canet back in P2 and Lowes P3.

Twelve laps to go and Acosta was looking very much in control, he maintained the lead from Aron Canet in P2 and now the stylish and quick Ai Ogura in P3. With nine laps to go Canet crashed out in an own fault incident, Acosta’s stunning pace seemingly too much for Canet to contend with leaving Pedro with an even stronger lead and Tony Arbolino now in P2 and Ai Ogura P3 with Joe Roberts P4.

Three laps to go, Pedro Acosta had a 2.744 second lead over P2 Joe Roberts and Celestino Vietti now in P3, Sam Lowes crashed out, having been in a lap after lap battle with teammate Tony Arbolino, who squeezed Lowes onto the dirty side of the track, by his body language he put the blamed Tony for the crash. The stewards agreed and Arbolino was given a long lap penalty. No post-race tea and biscuits in the Marc VDS box! Just after that incident, Celestino Vietti pulled to the side of the track, with his bike broken down!

As it came to the last lap Pedro Acosta had a 3.6 second, with Roberts in P2 with another 2.1 seconds gap to Ai Ogura in P3. That was how it finished, it was a sublime race from Pedro Acosta, the Moto3 world champion, who had heaps of hype and pressure put on him as he came into Moto2. That pressure seemed to affect him in the earlier rounds but now, Pedro seems to have found his way, he is an enormous talent shining through, and now the youngest ever winner in the intermediate class.