Celestino Vietti was not able to convert pole position to a win as Pedro Acosta battled alongside Tony Arbolino for almost the whole duration of the race to come out on top.
Following Jake Dixon’s crash on the warm-up lap, 28 riders started the 16 lap pursuit to the finish.
Acosta had a blistering start, taking over the race lead but had to defend from Alonso Lopez into the second and third corners but Lopez was able to take over the lead. Acosta was able to get past Lopez at the back of the circuit.
Arbolino started the race in eighth position but was able to get past Lopez at the final corner to cross the start-finish line in second place at the end of the first lap.
Joe Roberts was another rider who really enjoyed the first lap, gaining six positions on the first tour of the circuit.
Aron Canet joined in the battle for the top four in lap two, fighting with Arbolino throughout the entire lap.
At turn 12 on the third lap, Acosta accidentally put the bike into neutral rather than first gear and went wide, losing three places in the process. However, he was able to gain one of these places back at turn one on the following lap, overtaking Canet.
Albert Arenas went onto the paint on the back straight and Lorenzo Dalla Porta crashed at turn 18, also on the fourth lap.
During the fifth lap, Arbolino was able to pass Lopez and make it stick before they, and Acosta, began to break away from the chasing pack. Acosta gained the lead back on the brakes into turn one on lap six. The chasing group slowly began to catch up to the front three, bringing the gap down to 0.4 seconds.
Lopez continued to drop down the field to sixth by the end of lap seven. Barry Baltus was riding in fifth place, setting fastest laps at the same time.
However, Baltus crashed the following lap at turn nine, after rising through the field from twelfth on the grid. Lap eight was also not good for Lopez, as he went wide at turn 12, dropping to seventh.
Arbolino and Acosta continued to drive away from the rest of the field with a margin of 2.427 seconds into lap 10.
Marcos Ramirez and Sergio Garcia both retired on lap ten.
Acosta continued to look for a move on Arbolino for laps eleven, twelve and thirteen, even if he was a little wabble on lap twelve. Bo Bendsneyder was able to capitalise on the chasing pack fighting between each other on lap thirteen to pass Lopez for seventh.
Arbolino ran wide at turn one on lap fourteen and Acosta was able to get past but Arbolino kept close to the young Spaniard. Acosta rode deep into turn twelve and the Italian was able to get through, retaking the lead.
Arbolino rode defensive for the entire of lap fifteen, even with the pressure being applied from behind from Acosta but went into the final lap with the lead of the race. Fermín Aldeguer, Jeremy Arcoba and Canet were all fighting for third place.
As always, the final lap of the race was a delight to watch. Once again, Acosta tried the move into turn one but Arbolino had placed his bike in the ideal spot to defend. Into turn 12, Acosta was able to make the move on Arbolino, immediately moving to defend the lead of the race. Arbolino started to line up to make a move into the final corner but was unable to beat Acosta to the line.
The battle for the final podium position was hectic as Bensneyder rose from sixth at the start of lap sixteen to third across the line, beating Alcoba and Filip Salac through a drag race. Aldeguer finished in sixth, ahead of early leader Lopez. Caner, Vietti and Manuel Gonzalez rounded out the top ten.
| 2023 AMERICAS MOTO2 GRAND PRIX, AUSTIN – RACE RESULTS | |||||
| POS | RIDER | NAT | TEAM | BIKE | TIME |
| 1 | Pedro Acosta | SPA | Red Bull KTM Ajo | (Kalex) | 34m 42.879s |
| 2 | Tony Arbolino | ITA | Elf Marc VDS Racing Team | (Kalex) | 34m 43.025s |
| 3 | Bo Bendsneyder | NED | Pertamina Mandalika SAG Team | (Kalex) | 34m 48.730s |
| 4 | Jeremy Alcoba | SPA | QJMOTOR Gresini Moto2 | (Kalex) | 34m 48.928s |
| 5 | Filip Salac | CZE | QJMOTOR Gresini Moto2 | (Kalex) | 34m 50.341s |
| 6 | Fermín Aldeguer | SPA | Beta Tools SpeedUp | (Boscoscuro) | 34m 50.547s |
| 7 | Alonso Lopez | SPA | Beta Tools SpeedUp | (Boscoscuro) | 34m 50.594s |
| 8 | Aron Canet | SPA | Pons Wegow Los40 | (Kalex) | 34m 50.957s |
| 9 | Celestino Vietti | ITA | Fantic Racing | (Kalex) | 34m 53.993s |
| 10 | Manuel Gonzalez | SPA | Correos Prepago Yamaha VR46 | (Kalex) | 34m 55.440s |
| 11 | Somkiat Chantra | THA | IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia | (Kalex) | 34m 56.486s |
| 12 | Albert Arenas | SPA | Red Bull KTM Ajo | (Kalex) | 34m 56.880s |
| 13 | Sam Lowes | GBR | Elf Marc VDS Racing Team | (Kalex) | 35m 2.933s |
| 14 | Dennis Foggia | ITA | Italtrans Racing Team | (Kalex) | 35m 5.869s |
| 15 | Ai Ogura | JPN | IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia | (Kalex) | 35m 11.699s |
| 16 | Joe Roberts | USA | Italtrans Racing Team | (Kalex) | 35m 14.772s |
| 17 | Zonta Vd Goorbergh | NED | Fieten Olie Racing GP | (Kalex) | 35m 17.613s |
| 18 | Sean Dylan Kelly | USA | American Racing | (Kalex) | 35m 17.813s |
| 19 | Rory Skinner | GBR | American Racing | (Kalex) | 35m 25.419s |
| 20 | Borja Gomez | SPA | Fantic Racing | (Kalex) | 35m 32.852s |
| 21 | Izan Guevara | SPA | Asterius GASGAS Aspar M2 | (Kalex) | 35m 34.349s |
| 22 | David Sanchis | SPA | Forward Team | (Forward) | 35m 48.103s |
| 23 | Soichiro Minamimoto | JPN | Correos Prepago Yamaha VR46 | (Kalex) | 36m 27.326s |
| Sergio Garcia | SPA | Pons Wegow Los40 | (Kalex) | DNF | |
| Marcos Ramirez | SPA | Forward Team | (Forward) | DNF | |
| Barry Baltus | BEL | Fieten Olie Racing GP | (Kalex) | DNF | |
| Lorenzo Dalla Porta | ITA | Pertamina Mandalika SAG Team | (Kalex) | DNF | |
| Lukas Tulovic | GER | Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP | (Kalex) | DNF | |
| Jake Dixon | GBR | Asterius GASGAS Aspar M2 | (Kalex) | DNS | |