A thrilling duel in Moto2! Acosta beats Arbolin to take second win of the season, Salač fifth

The third race of this year’s Moto2 event in Austin, USA, offered race-long action between Pedro Acosta and Tony Arbolin. Both riders have already enjoyed victories this year and gave fans a nerve-wracking spectacle in the US GP for their second triumph of the season. Acosta eventually beat Arbolin with a manoeuvre in the final corners after a tactical wait. Czech driver Filip Salač, after starting from the front row, held on to fifth place, where he also finished the race.

For the second time this weekend, a rider suffered an unexpected crash in the warm-up lap. In Moto3, Joshua Whatley crashed, and in the Moto2 mid-class, Jake Dixon imitated him. In both cases, neither rider ended up starting the race itself.

Celestino Vietti started from pole position, but fell through the ranks as soon as the lights went out. On the other hand, Alonso López took the lead after exiting the first corner, followed by Pedro Acosta and Tony Arbolin.

Unfortunately, Czech driver Filip Salač dropped a few positions back after starting from third position. In the esses he did move up to fourth place. However, after the first round he settled down in fifth place.

A few moments later, Acosta made a move on López to take the lead in the US GP. However, at the end of the 1.2km back straight he failed to shift properly and after a minor adventure in neutral, he dropped ahead of Salac to fourth.

On the fifth lap of 16 overall, Arbolino passed López and attempted to cruise to his second straight win. On the very next circuit, Salac was passed by his teammate Jeremy Alcoba.

López was visibly struggling in the middle of the race to find the ideal braking point going into the slow twelfth corner. He went into the escape zone several times, which helped his rivals, including Salac, earn an extra position.

However, the Czech driver couldn’t find the right rhythm at the same time as he lost another position to Barry Baltus. The Belgian, however, bid a potentially excellent result goodbye when he crashed on the exit of turn nine.

The second half of the race belonged to the leading duo of Arbolino and Acosta, who managed to build up a margin of up to four seconds on the others with a few laps to go. The latter thoroughly studied the riding style of his Italian rival in a possible battle for the overall title. However, he postponed his attack on the top position for the time being. With three laps to go, they both made mistakes, ceding the lead to the other.

So nothing changed in the top two positions until the last lap. Acosta successfully attacked Arbolin after a slipstream on the longest straight, which proved to be the winning move in the end. The Italian did attempt a manoeuvre into the final corner.

But it didn’t change the fact that Acosta went on to take his second win of the season. Arbolino crossed the finish line in second place just 154 thousandths behind. A five-man group with Salac still battled for third place on the final circuit. Bo Bendsneyder came out of the chaos best, with Salač finishing fifth behind Alcoba.

United States Moto2 Grand Prix results (race 3/21, 14 laps = 96.432 km; top 10 only):

1. Pedro Acosta (Sp., Kalex) 34::42.879
2. Tony Arbolino (Ita., Kalex) +0.146
3. Bo Bendsneyder (Niz., Kalex) +5.851
4. Jeremy Alcoba (Span., Kalex) +6.049
5. Filip Salač (Czech., Kalex) +7.462
6. Fermín Aldeguer (Span., Boscoscuro) +7.668
7. Alonso López (Span., Boscoscuro) +7.715
8. Arón Canet (Span., Kalex) +8.078
9. Celestino Vietti (Ita., Kalex) +11.114
10. Manuel González (Span., Kalex) +12.561

Moto2 riders’ standings for the 2023 season (top 10 only)::

1. Tony Arbolino (Ita., Kalex) 61
2. Pedro Acosta (Spa., Kalex) 54
3. Arón Canet (Spa., Kalex) 41
4. Filip Salač (Ces., Kalex) 33
5. Alonso López (Span., Boscoscuro) 29
6. Jake Dixon (Brit., Kalex) 26
7. Manuel González (Spain, Kalex) 22
8. Somkiat Chantra (Tha., Kalex) 20
9. Jeremy Alcoba (Span., Kalex) 19
10. Albert Arenas (Spain, Kalex) 19

Source: MotoGP