A drama-filled weekend on Phillip Island resulted in a change in time for the Moto2 race due to the strong winds and heavy rain predicted.
After being the pacesetter for all the qualifying sessions, Fermin Aldeguer set the Moto2 lap record in the second qualifying session, after breaking it in practice three. His time of a 1:31.888 was 0.4s ahead of his countryman Aron Canet. He was joined by Alonso Lopez on the front row.
Joe Roberts had a brilliant qualifying session, putting his Italtrans Racing Team bike at the head of the second row alongside championship leader, Pedro Acosta, and Jake Dixon. Tony Arbolino, second in the championship, qualified in eighth place.
The weather on Phillip Island was cold, rainy, and windy and this resulted in the riders struggling to keep warm on the grid. That was, if the riders made it to the grid.
Acosta crashed on the sighting lap at turn four and even with the help of the marshals was unable to get the bike restarted. Due to this, he had to start the formation lap from the pit lane and the race from the back of the grid.
Pressure mounts up! ⚠️@37_pedroacosta will start the race from the back of the grid! #AustralianGP 🇦🇺 pic.twitter.com/QBiIVupOAG
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) October 22, 2023
Canet got a good start from the middle of the front row and was able to take the lead from Aldeguer however the Beta Tools SpeedUp rider took the lead back at the southern loop. Arbolino was able to get past almost all the riders in front of him to end up in second place at the turn three.
Lopez was able to recover from his poor start and was leading the race until he had a big crash at turn four which meant that the riders had to weave around him. Following this, Sergio Garcia was at the front of the field.
Two quick lead changes and more mayhem! 🤯@AlonsoLopez_21 crashes out of the lead 💥
And @garciadols11 is up in first now! 🔝#AustralianGP 🇦🇺 pic.twitter.com/ZHYDypZSmF
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) October 22, 2023
Acosta improved from 31st place to 26th after the first lap.
Arbolino passed Dixon for third place on the second lap and Sam Lowes was sitting patiently behind his countryman, looking to get past. On the second lap, the Italian rider was the fastest rider on the circuit.
At turn one on lap three, Darryn Binder crashed and Zonta vd Goorbergh also crashed on the same lap at turn four. His teammate, Barry Baltus also crashed at the same corner on the same lap.
After leading for a few laps, Garcia crashed at turn eight on lap four. Lowes crashed at turn ten on the same lap.
By lap five, there were yellow flags out at all sectors due to all the crashes that had occurred. Dixon went down at the southern loop, keeping the yellow flags out in the first sector.
Arbolino had extended his lead to 11.380s from Aldeguer due to setting laps three seconds faster than the rest of the field. He was unstoppable at the front of the pack.
Mattia Casadei crashed at Miller Corner, causing another yellow flag.
By lap six, Acosta had made it into the top ten following his back of the grid start and Izan Guevara made a double overtake on Alcoba and Chantra.
On the ninth lap, Celestino Vietti crashed out of thirteenth place and following this, a red flag was called due to the weather conditions. The race was not restarted, and half points were awarded because two-thirds race distance was not completed.
This meant that Arbolino took the win in the horrific weather in Australia from Aron Canet and Fermin Aldeguer. Pedro Acosta was able to improve from his back of the grid start to finish in ninth place.
Feature Image Credit: Tony Arbolino on X (@TonyArbolino)
| AUSTRALIAN MOTO2 GRAND PRIX, PHILLIP ISLAND – RACE RESULTS | |||||
| POS | RIDER | NAT | TEAM | BIKE | TIME |
| 1 | Tony Arbolino | ITA | Elf Marc VDS Racing Team | (Kalex) | 16m 22.970s |
| 2 | Aron Canet | SPA | Pons Wegow Los40 | (Kalex) | 16m 38.058s |
| 3 | Fermín Aldeguer | SPA | Beta Tools SpeedUp | (Boscoscuro) | 16m 38.584s |
| 4 | Jeremy Alcoba | SPA | QJMOTOR Gresini Moto2 | (Kalex) | 14m 58.401s |
| 5 | Joe Roberts | USA | Italtrans Racing Team | (Kalex) | 14m 59.122s |
| 6 | Izan Guevara | SPA | Inde GASGAS Aspar Team | (Kalex) | 14m 59.124s |
| 7 | Somkiat Chantra | THA | IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia | (Kalex) | 14m 59.908s |
| 8 | Bo Bendsneyder | NED | Pertamina Mandalika SAG Team | (Kalex) | 15m 3.659s |
| 9 | Pedro Acosta | SPA | Red Bull KTM Ajo | (Kalex) | 15m 8.067s |
| 10 | Marcos Ramirez | SPA | OnlyFans American Racing | (Kalex) | 15m 9.110s |
| 11 | Taiga Hada | JPN | Pertamina Mandalika SAG Team | (Kalex) | 15m 9.263s |
| 12 | Rory Skinner | GBR | OnlyFans American Racing | (Kalex) | 15m 14.974s |
| 13 | Manuel Gonzalez | SPA | Correos Prepago Yamaha VR46 | (Kalex) | 15m 17.292s |
| 14 | Albert Arenas | SPA | Red Bull KTM Ajo | (Kalex) | 15m 17.379s |
| 15 | Ai Ogura | JPN | IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia | (Kalex) | 15m 18.900s |
| 16 | Kohta Nozane | JPN | Correos Prepago Yamaha VR46 | (Kalex) | 15m 29.599s |
| 17 | Dennis Foggia | ITA | Italtrans Racing Team | (Kalex) | 15m 38.590s |
| 18 | Alberto Surra | ITA | Forward Team | (Forward) | 15m 42.647s |
| 19 | Alex Escrig | SPA | Forward Team | (Forward) | 15m 42.945s |
| 20 | Lukas Tulovic | GER | Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP | (Kalex) | 16m 3.249s |
| Alonso Lopez | SPA | Beta Tools SpeedUp | (Boscoscuro) | DNF | |
| Celestino Vietti | ITA | Fantic Racing | (Kalex) | DNF | |
| Mattia Casadei | ITA | Fantic Racing | (Kalex) | DNF | |
| Jake Dixon | GBR | Inde GASGAS Aspar Team | (Kalex) | DNF | |
| Sam Lowes | GBR | Elf Marc VDS Racing Team | (Kalex) | DNF | |
| Sergio Garcia | SPA | Pons Wegow Los40 | (Kalex) | DNF | |
| Filip Salac | CZE | QJMOTOR Gresini Moto2 | (Kalex) | DNF | |
| Barry Baltus | BEL | Fieten Olie Racing GP | (Kalex) | DNF | |
| Zonta Vd Goorbergh | NED | Fieten Olie Racing GP | (Kalex) | DNF | |
| Darryn Binder | RSA | Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP | (Kalex) | DNF | |