Very Vietti; a stylish win for Celestino at the Circuit de Catalunya

June 9, 2022

Moto2 Gran Premi Monster Energy de Catalunya 2022

Quali:

Back on top in Spain was Celestino Vietti, in pole position, with Aron Canet P2 and Joe Roberts on form in P3. With Mugello winner and Moto3 world champion Pedro Acosta back in P12, not where you needed to be if you want to repeat your Italy success.

The Race:

Jake Dixon shot away at the start to take the lead, with Joe Roberts too close for comfort and by the time lap one was done, Roberts had taken the lead with Dixon P2 and Aron Canet P3, Albert Arenas P4 and Celestino Vietti P5. With 12 laps to go Joe Roberts had been leading for ten laps and with a 2.550 gap over Jake Dixon in P2 and Aron Canet P3, Albert Arenas P4 and Celestino Vietti P5. Roberts looked solid until suddenly he lost front end grip and slid into the kitty litter, unable to recover the race was over for the likeable Californian. Leaving Jake Dixon in the lead with Aron Canet P2 and Albert Arenas P3.

Eight laps to go and Aron Canet had slowly pulled up onto Jake Dixon and took him for the lead, leaving Dixon P2 and now Celestino Vietti P3, then within half a lap Vietti had pulled ahead of Dixon into P2, and was looking strong. Ai Ogura was P8 and Mugello race winner Pedro Acosta was P10, only a two-place improvement on his P12 start. Within a lap, Vietti took the lead and straight away pulled a slight gap on Canet, but not much as Canet was fighting back, and he was soon back in the lead with Vietti P2 and Dixon P3, Augusto Fernandez P4.

Last lap and there were fireworks as one corner it was Canet then Vietti, then Canet again. With two corners to go Celestino Vietti pulled off a daring move on Aron Canet and held him to the line, a sublime finish for the Italian VR46 rider, with Canet, once again narrowly missing out on the win. As the top two were in battle, so were Jake Dixon and Augusto Fernandez, the latter taking the final podium place just pipping Dixon on the line. Pedro Acosta made up to P6, from his P12 start, so we saw a different Pedro than we saw in Mugello but still impressive.