Celestino Vietti emerged on top in a thrilling Moto2 battle at Misano, while David Alonso scored yet another victory in Moto3 as both support races for the MotoGP Emilia Romagna Grand Prix were decided on the final lap.
The day’s action started with an 18-lap Moto3 race, where David Alonso scored his eighth win of 2024 to extend his lead in the championship.
Starting second on the grid, Alonso quickly grabbed the lead from polesitter Taiyo Furusato, but soon came under pressure from Tech3’s Daniel Holgado, who had jumped from 10th to fourth on the opening lap.
After overtaking Leopard’s Angel Piqueras and Furasato in quick succession, it took little time for Holgado to find a way past Alonso, with a simple move at Turn 8 on lap 4 propelling him to the lead for the first time.
Piqueras enjoyed a brief stint at the front from lap 7, but it didn’t take long for Holgado and Alonso to reinstate their battle for victory.
Holgado was the first to strike on lap 8, but Alonso got back ahead of him two laps later as they continued to duel for positions.
There were no more lead changes until the penultimate lap when Holgado threw his GasGas bike up the inside of Alonso, the two making contact as they navigated Turn 13.
The incident also allowed Piqueras to move up to second, but on the final lap Alonso managed to overtake both him and Holgado on the run down to Turn 8 to retake the lead.
He crossed the finishing line 0.175s ahead of Piqueras, while a track limits infringement on the final lap dropped Holgado outside the podium spots into fourth, behind the Intact GP bike of Colin Veijer.
Ivan Ortola was fifth on the top MT Helmets — MSI bike ahead of SIC Squadra Corse’s Luca Lunetta and Boe Motorsports’ Joe Kelso.
Kelso’s team-mate David Munoz crashed at Turn 2 on the opening lap and eventually retired from the race.
Moto3 Emilia Romagna GP — race results
Celestino Vietti, Red Bull KTM Ajo
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
In Moto2, Ajo rider Celestino Vietti won a drag race to the finish line over Aron Canet to clinch his second victory of 2024, while an early crash dealt another blow to Sergio Garcia’s title hopes.
The 22-lap Moto2 was a three-way contest between Vietti, Canet and Tony Arbolino, with the trio running nose to tail for the majority of the race.
Arbolino made a brilliant launch from third on the grid to take the lead into Turn 1, with Vietti also getting the jump on polesitter Canet after starting from fourth.
By the end of lap 1, Arbolino was already seven tenths clear of the chasing pack, but both Vietti and Canet were able to close back in on him a quarter into the race.
Vietti and Canet continued to mount pressure on Arbolino, but the Marc VDS rider was doing enough to fend them off and stay in front.
On lap 17, Vietti ran wide into Turn 2, losing eight tenths and allowing Canet to come through on him to grab second.
This gave Arbolino some breathing space at the front, but the Marc VDS rider made his first mistake at Turn 10 two laps later, with both Canet and Vietti passing him to demote him to third.
On lap 21, Arbolino reinstated the status quo by snatching the lead from Canet into Turn 8, as Vietti appeared to slip back from the leading duo.
But on an incredible final lap, Arbolino blew away what had appeared to be a likely win by running wide off the track into Turn 14, dropping into third place.
This turned the final moments of the race into a two-horse race between Canet and Vietti, with the latter getting a better exit out of the final corner to pass Canet and take an incredible win by just 0.029s.
Arbolino crossed the line two seconds down in third, while championship leader Ai Ogura was the best-of-the-rest in fourth place on the lead MT Helmet — MSi bike.
But while Ogura didn’t have the pace to fight for a podium spot, the result came as a big boost for his title hopes, with his nearest rival and team-mate Garcia crashing out at Turn 2 on lap 6.