Moto2: Celestino Vietti wins his first Grand Prix of the season

Celestino Vietti wins the Moto2 race after a smart ride in Austria.

The Championship leader, Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Ajo) lined up on pole position for the Moto2 race. Ai Ogura (IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia) was on form and in second position at the start. Celestino Vietti (Fantic Racing) rounded out the front row, who had a very strong weekend.

Jack Dixon (Autosolar GASGAS Aspar Team) had an incredible start to his race, jumping into second. He was ahead of Ogura and Vietti, who dropped one position at the beginning of the race.

The first crashers of the race were Sam Lowes (Elf Marc VDS Racing Team) and Darryn Binder (A Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP). Alonso Lopez (CAG SpeedUp) had a crash at the turn two chicane, after losing the front on the bumps. Albert Arenas (Red Bull KTM Ajo) also had a crash after losing the front at turn three later that lap.

Dixon began to drop down the order in the middle stage of the race, losing second to Ai Ogura. Vietti would be the next rider to overtake Dixon, dropping the Brit down to fourth position.

Filip Salac (QJMOTOR Gresini Moto2) was ahead of Tony Arbolino (Elf Marc VDS Racing Team) in seventh place. Salac was having an impressive ride in the race, after qualifying in 12^th position. Sergio Garcia (Pons Wegow Los40) was catching the two riders who continued to battle each other.

Pedro Acosta had a one-second lead at the front with less than 10 laps remaining from Vietti who managed to pass Ogura for second. The gap was consistently closing with Vietti’s late race pace looking strong.

Celestino Vietti took the race lead on lap 18 and tried to pull away from the Championship leader. The Italian was faster in every sector with the Fantic Racing machine looking to have more tyre left.

Lukas Tulovic (Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP) was inside the top 10 after starting in 18^th position. He was in a battle with Fermin Aldeguer (CAG SpeedUp) and Dennis Foggia (Italtrans Racing Team) for ninth.

Six riders inside the points had track limit warnings with everyone pushing and using all of the circuit.

Pedro Acosta was doing an incredible job to keep Vietti under pressure, keeping the gap to less than one second. At the line, Acosta could do nothing and allowed Celestino Vietti to win his first race win since 2022 at Catalunya. Pedro Acosta finished in second with Ai Ogura bringing it home in third position.

Jake Dixon was in fourth position at the line, ending the race In the same position which he started. Somkiat Chantra rounded out the top five, ending the race ahead of Arbolino, losing more points to his Championship rival.

Filip Salac was in seventh, holding off Sergio Garcia in eighth in the sunshine at the Red Bull Ring. Fermin Aldeguer and Lukas Tulovic rounded out the top 10 after a strong performance in Austria.

For more MotoGP content:

Image credit: Fantic Racing