Celestino Vietti (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) has extended his Moto2™ World Championship lead with victory at the Gran Premi Monster Energy de Catalunya, after passing Aron Canet (Flexbox HP40) on the last lap. Those two became locked in a duel for top spot after Joe Roberts (Italtrans Racing Team) crashed out of a seemingly comfortable lead halfway into the 22-lap contest at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, while Augusto Fernandez (Red Bull KTM Ajo) made it onto the podium with a final-lap pass of his own.

Fernandez’s move was on another rider who had spent time in first position during the race, Jake Dixon (Inde GASGAS Aspar Team), and the Briton would take the chequered flag in fourth position, ahead of Marcel Schrötter (Liqui Moly Intact GP) and Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Ajo). Ai Ogura (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia) finished seventh, meaning he retains second position in the World Championship but is now 16 points in arrears of Vietti rather than being behind on a tie-break only.

Roberts made a good getaway when the lights went out but it was Dixon, braking late on the outside, who led the field in and out of the first corner. However, he held the position only until Turn 5, where Roberts went down the inside, while Canet took up third spot. Just behind them, Albert Arenas (Inde GASGAS Aspar Team) overtook pole-sitter Vietti for fourth as they ran through Turns 7 and 8.

That was how they ran as they completed the standing lap, before Canet picked off Dixon through Turn 4 next time through. At the start of Lap 3, the battle for the live World Championship lead between Vietti and Ogura, tied on points at the start of the day, began in earnest when the Japanese rider braked late and went down the inside of the Italian for fifth spot at Turn 1. Ogura then had a lunge at Arenas on Lap 5 at Turn 5 but could not make the pass stick and instead spent the next three laps trading positions with Vietti.

Vietti had finally shaken off Ogura when the latter ran wide through Turn 4 on Lap 8 and handed over sixth spot to Augusto Fernandez (Red Bull KTM Ajo). Ogura then became embroiled in a similarly willing duel with Schrötter which saw the two make contact at Turn 10 at one point, before the German finally made seventh position his own on Lap 9.

It was looking good for Roberts, who was already pulling away when there was more contact at Turn 10, this time as Dixon relieved Canet of second spot on Lap 10. However, disaster struck for the American on the following tour when, with an advantage of 2.5 seconds up his sleeve, he threw it all away with a crash at Turn 5. What looked like a case of one rider streaking away with victory became a scenario of less than a second covering a top five of Dixon, Canet, Arenas, Vietti, and Fernandez, with Schrötter not too far behind.

Vietti made an unsuccessful attempt to pass Arenas for third at Turn 10 on Lap 12, but was handed the place when the Spaniard ran wide two corners later anyway. Then, when Canet overtook Dixon for the lead at the start of Lap 13, and Vietti also got by #96 on Lap 15 at Turn 2, the stage was set for an enthralling finish.

Proving that Turn 10 was his preferred place to do business, Vietti showed his hand with a dive at Canet at that corner on Lap 16, but the Spaniard responded when he got a tow off the VR46 entry and slipped back down the inside as they turned into the first corner on Lap 18. In something of a case of history repeating, Vietti made a bold move on Lap 21 at Turn 10, but then Canet squeezed past at Turn 1 on the 22nd and final lap.

It was looking like Canet might finally break through for his first ever victory in the intermediate class – and the world would finally know what the reason for his parc ferme bowtie is. However, when he ran ever so slightly wide as he negotiated Turn 10 for the final time, Vietti did not waste the opportunity. The Italian jammed his bike in the small gap which had been left open, and rode on to a 0.081 second win which represents a welcome 25-point haul after a DNF a week ago.

Meanwhile, the contest for the final step of the podium eventually became a race in two. Arenas had already ceded fourth position to Fernandez and fifth to Schrötter when he stopped with an apparent technical problem, just over two laps from home. Schrötter could not quite keep touch with the top four but Fernandez was going with Dixon, and when the Aspar rider was wide through Turn 12 on the final lap, the KTM Ajo pilot helped himself to third spot.

As such, it was a top five of Vietti, Canet, Fernandez, Dixon, and Schrötter, with last-start winner Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Ajo) gradually climbing to sixth at the finish from outside the top 10 in the opening stages. Ogura faded for pace but managed to get home in seventh, ahead of Alonso Lopez (Lightech Speed Up) and Manual Gonzalez (Yamaha VR46 Master Camp Team). Tony Arbolino (Elf Marc VDS Racing Team) had to serve a long lap penalty for a shortcut on his way to 10th all-told, one spot up on Lorenzo Dalla Porta (Italtrans Racing Team), while Somkiat Chantra (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia) wound up 12th. The rest of the points finishers were Bo Bendsneyder (Pertamina Mandalika SAG Team), Jorge Navarro (Flexbox HP40), and Fermin Aldeguer (Lightech Speed Up).

Sam Lowes (Elf Marc VDS Racing Team) was a high-profile retirement when he crashed out of sixth position on the penultimate lap. He joined a list of DNFs comprised also of Arenas, Alessandro Zaccone (Gresini Racing Moto2™), Roberts, Cameron Beaubier (American Racing), Filip Salac (Gresini Racing Moto2™), and Alex Toledo (Pertamina Mandalika SAG Team).

Can Ogura hit back? Will Canet bag his first intermediate class win? The answers to these questions, and more, will come with Round 10, the Liqui Moly Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland, takes place at the Sachsenring on June 17-19.

Moto2™ Race Top 10:

1. Celestino Vietti (Mooney VR46 Racing Team)
2. Aron Canet (Flexbox HP40) + 0.081
3. Augusto Fernandez (Red Bull KTM Ajo) + 0.522
4. Jake Dixon (Inde GASGAS Aspar Team) + 0.646
5. Marcel Schrotter (Liqui Moly Intact GP) + 1.470
6. Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Ajo) + 6.298
7. Ai Ogura (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia) + 6.320
8. Alonso Lopez (Lightech Conveyors Speed Up) + 7.229
9. Manuel Gonzalez (Yamaha VR46 Master Camp Team) + 10.746
10. Tony Arbolino (Elf Marc VDS Racing Team) + 12.056

Valresa GASGAS Aspar Team’s Izan Guevara was in a league of his own at the Monster Energy Catalan Grand Prix as he romped to a second win of the season in quite stunning fashion. The Mallorcan broke clear of a typically hectic Moto3™ group with six laps remaining to cross the line comfortably clear of remarkable rookie David Muñoz, who claimed a career-first podium in only his second Grand Prix. Leopard Racing’s Tatsuki Suzuki was only one hundredth adrift of the BOE Motorsports rider in third.

Poleman Dennis Foggia got the perfect start to fire his Leopard Racing Honda into an early lead, with Guevara settling into second behind him. Valresa GASGAS Aspar Team’s Sergio Garcia found himself in third after a move up the inside of SIC58 Squadra Corse’s Riccardo Rossi into Turn 10; the Championship leader had quickly recovered from a lackluster, by his standards, third row start.

Lap 3 and Foggia still lead the way. He was joined at the front by teammate Suzuki, who was starting to make some moves as he fired past Garcia for third before then squeezing through on Guevara at Turn 11 for P2. Foggia’s challengers were starting to rattle him just one lap later when Suzuki, Guevara and then Garcia all found a pass on the Italian through the first two sectors.

Then, on the run down to Turn 10 on Lap 7, the picture at the front of the race and in the title chase changed dramatically. Italy’s Foggia was forced to retire with a technical problem, as, just seven days on from crashing out of the lead at his home race in Mugello, disaster struck again for the misfiring Rocket.

One of the performances of the day was coming courtesy of Sterilgarda Husqvarna’s David Salvador as the Spaniard was up to fourth having started 16th. A strong ride was coming from Adrian Fernandez as well, with the Red Bull KTM Tech3 man up in the leading group for the first time in a while. But the stand-out rider was David Muñoz. In only his second Grand Prix appearance, the 16-year-old was showing no mercy for his more experienced rivals as he sythed his way into the top five.

The leading group was then fractured after a big crash at Turn 10. Ryusei Yamanaka (MT Helmets – MSI) dived through on the inside of Dani Holgado (Red Bull KTM Ajo), got it wrong and clipped the rear wheel of Salvador ahead of him, to take the Spanish stand-in down along with himself and the unfortunate Holgado on the outside as well.

That meant a leading group of seven emerged, with Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Jaume Masia amongst it having recovered from a poor start. Muñoz began conjuring up some magic as he lead in only his second Grand Prix with nine laps remaining, before then Adrian Fernandez hit the front of a Moto3™ race for the first time in his career – a remarkable recovery having started 24th.

Seven laps remaining and Guevara was making a big effort to try and break clear. He was half a second clear as they came across the line, causing alarm bells to ring in the mind of teammate Garcia. He could see his teammate checking out in front of him and quickly bullied his way into second to try and go with the Mallorcan. Muñoz was similarly worried by Guevara and dived through to third, tucking in behind Garcia.

Two remaining and Guevara was still half a second clear despite Garcia pushing to the absolute limit behind. A costly error through Turn 5 for Garcia saw the lead stretch out to eight tenths of a second and virtually had the win to the faultless Guevara. The fight for the final podium spot came down to Garcia, Muñoz and Suzuki, who latched onto the Spaniards ahead of him in the closing stages. Muñoz slipped through to second at the opening corner as the final lap started, with Suzuki then responding at Turn 4. They were three wide down to Turn 6 with contact nearly happening between them all before the young 16-year-old emerged in front. Muñoz held it through Turn 10 and just had a handful of corners to go to take a memorable debut podium.

At the front, Guevara came across the line to take the chequered flag and a third career win. Eyes then flicked to the fight for second with Muñoz emerging at the head of the three rider fight to bag second spot by 0.010 seconds from Suzuki and Garcia. Now just 16 points split the GASGAS Aspar men with Guevara’s fourth consecutive podium allowing him to close in on his teammate. Red Bull KTM Tech3’s Deniz Öncü came across the line in fifth, ahead of Carlos Tatay (PrüstelGP CFMoto) and John McPhee (Sterilgarda Husqvarna). Both Masia and Fernandez dropped backwards in the closing stages to come across the line in eigith and ninth, before the top ten was completed by Xavi Artigas (PrüstelGP CFMoto).

Moto3™ Top 10:
1. Izan Guevara (Valresa GASGAS Aspar Team)
2. David Muñoz (BOE Motorsports) + 1.975
3. Tatsuki Suzuki (Leopard Racing) + 1.985
4. Sergio Garcia (Valresa GASGAS Aspar Team) + 2.036
5. Deniz Öncü (Red Bull KTM Tech 3) + 2.752
6. Carlos Tatay (CFMoto Racing PrustelGP) + 3.134
7. John McPhee (Sterilgarda Husqvarna Max) + 3.341
8. Jaume Masia (Red Bull KTM Ajo) + 3.633
9. Adrian Fernandez (Red Bull KTM Tech 3) + 5.285
10. Xavi Artigas (CFMoto Racing PrustelGP) + 5.555

World Environment Day is today and the FIM MotoGP™ World Championship is racing towards an ever more sustainable future, using the paddock as a laboratory to power progress and innovation.

Two wheels is already the more sustainable method of transport and billions of people rely on two-wheeled vehicles. In many nations, two-wheeled vehicles drive society. As the pinnacle of the two-wheeled world, MotoGP™ has a global platform to lead the way to an even greener future.

Working with all the sport’s stakeholders towards our common goals, MotoGP™ is #RacingTogether to create positive change around the world. Here are just some of our biggest initiatives.

2024 will see MotoGP™ launch a new global era of zero carbon fuels. Working with manufacturers and fuel suppliers, MotoGP™ is developing an unrivalled selection of sustainable drop-in fuels, meaning they’ll be ready to use in the billions of standard combustion engines around the world. Developing multiple fuels with multiple partners also makes the technology and knowledge as accessible as possible, reaching real customers on the street.

By 2024, fuel in all MotoGP™ classes will be of minimum 40% non-fossil origin, and by 2027 it’ll be 100%. The fuels will either be laboratory-created, using components sourced from a carbon capture scheme, or derived from municipal waste or non-food biomass.

This will achieve significant savings in greenhouse gas emissions relative to fossil-derived petrol. From production to pump and then the street, the life cycle of these fuels of the future targets carbon neutrality – with suppliers also progressively introducing the use of renewable energy in the production of their fuel.

MotoGP™ works with all partners to continue pushing towards a more sustainable future, and that includes updating the regulations to reflect the sustainability targets of the paddock and all stakeholders.

Official tyre supplier Michelin is one of the sport’s most vital partners in the push towards a greener future, and from next season, the number of rear tyre options available at each Grand Prix will be reduced. This will maintain the same world-beating performance and safety, as well as allowing riders to use the same number of tyres on track, but will prevent around 1500 tyres going unused. That’s 1500 fewer units to manufacture and transport, creating a significant contribution to the paddock’s mission to promote a circular economy and reduce waste.

Michelin’s mission is to have tyres comprising 100% sustainable material by 2050 across all their ranges, targeting an average of 40% by 2030. Their role as the official tyre supplier to the FIM Enel MotoE™ World Cup is vital on this journey as Michelin use the MotoGP™ paddock as a racing laboratory, and the progress is already impressive. A new goal has been reached in 2022: 46% sustainable material in all MotoE™ rear tyres.

Next, this technology will reach the world’s ultimate two-wheeled testing ground, MotoGP™, and then its ultimate destination: millions of consumers across the globe.

MotoGP™ works with every circuit promoter to foster sustainable practices and ensure a positive impact on the places we race – economically, socially and environmentally. From the KiSS project as part of the FIM’s Ride Green initiative to the Food Waste initiatives undertaken and plenty in between, the sport and all stakeholders are committed to positive progress.

The sport is also working with promoters towards improving environmental guidelines and making sure event execution gets more and more sustainable, year on year. This includes everything from sustainable mobility, transportation and logistics to a paper-free media centre and promoting a circular economy at every circuit.

Broadcasting 20 race weekends to nearly half a billion homes in more than 200 countries provides another opportunity to innovate in order to further reduce the carbon footprint of the sport.

Dorna is working with partner Tata Communications to boost migration from an onsite traditional media production to a remote production that will culminate in a future cloud-based model, which includes increasing the number of video signals from 60 to 110 – some in ultra-low latency – providing more content to viewers and even enabling the innovation of remotely produced immersive sound.

Going remote uses less energy, more efficiently, as well as reducing the people and equipment traversing the world – reducing the sport’s carbon footprint at the same time as ensuring the viewer experience only gets better and better.

Racing Together can mean many things, but for MotoGP™ it’s a commitment to our fans and the wider world. It represents the values, efforts and collective drive of our sport, with everyone working towards the common goals of increasing sustainability, inclusion and the positive impact of MotoGP™, everywhere we race – every time.

Aprilia Racing’s Aleix Espargaro has reset his own All Time Lap Record to claim pole position for the Gran Premi Monster Energy de Catalunya. In what was a three-way fight for pole in MotoGP™ Q2 at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Aleix Espargaro’s 1:38.742 saw him prevail by just 0.031 seconds over the Ducati Lenovo Team’s Francesco Bagnaia. World Championship leader Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™) is also set to start from the front row on Sunday afternoon.

Row 2 will be all-Ducati, with Prima Pramac Racing’s Johann Zarco fourth, his team-mate Jorge Martin sixth, and Gresini Racing MotoGP™’s Fabio Di Giannantonio between them on the starting grid. The second Aprilia Racing entry, piloted by Maverick Viñales, will line up on the middle of Row 3.

It was very tight at the end of the first runs of Q2, with Quartararo top on a 1:39.055, Bagnaia second at just a hundredth of a second off the pace, and Aleix Espargaro only two thousandths slower again in third spot. Viñales had come through Q1 to be eighth by the time the track went quiet on a 1:39.594.

While track temperature was approaching 60 degrees Celsius, the pace was just as hot when riders came back out for their second runs. Bagnaia raised the stakes when he punched out a 1:38.787, only 0.016 seconds away from the lap record which Aleix Espargaro had achieved in FP3, before taking an excursion through the run-off area at Turn 1. Aprilia’s ‘Captain’ then snatched provisional pole with that 1:38.742, while Quartararo consolidated third spot with a 1:38.959.

Apparently not content to rest on his laurels, Aleix Espargaro was still pushing on his final lap when he outbraked himself at Turn 10. Bagnaia was also continuing to chase time, and time he did find, but only enough to eke out a 1:38.773, meaning the older of the brothers from nearby Granollers would indeed take a second pole position of the season.

It is a horde of Bologna bullets on Row 2 after Zarco finished Q2 with a 1:39.027 to claim fourth-fastest, 0.072 seconds up on Desmosedici GP21 pilot Di Giannantonio. Martin was sixth-quickest courtesy of the 1:39.142 which he set on his first run, and likewise Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) in qualifying seventh on a 1:39.145.

While 0.403 seconds separated first from seventh in qualifying, Viñales was 0.252 seconds further back in eighth spot, with Luca Marini (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) also making it onto Row 3. The fourth row will be headed up by Pol Espargaro (Repsol Honda Team), from Jack Miller (Ducati Lenovo Team) and the second of the Q1 graduates in Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda Idemitsu).

Enea Bastianini (Gresini Racing MotoGP™) was the biggest name who got stuck in Q1. A flurry of red and orange on the timing screen saw Viñales sit first on a 1:39.216 and Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) second on a 1:39.240 a minute to go in the session, before the latter ran off at Turn 3. Bastianini could only move up to third-fastest just before the chequered flag came out with a 1:39.246, and that would be all he had. Bezzecchi, however, also missed out when Nakagami jumped into second spot with a 1:39.223.

Row 5 will be Bezzecchi, Bastianini, and Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing), the latter of whom took a detour through the Turn 10 gravel trap on his final lap. Behind them will be Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) in 16th, ahead of Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) and Franco Morbidelli (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™). Alex Marquez (LCR Honda Castrol) missed the session after a nasty-looking crash in FP4 which saw the Spaniard taken to the medical centre for an x-ray on his left wrist.

MotoGP™ Warm Up takes place on Sunday at 09:40 (GMT +2), before the race itself later in the afternoon. Will Aleix Espargaro take his second premier class race win at his home track? Find out from 14:00.

MotoGP™ Q2 Top 10:

1. Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) – 1:38.742
2. Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) + 0.031
3. Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) + 0.217
4. Johann Zarco (Prima Pramac Racing) + 0.285
5. Fabio Di Giannantonio (Gresini Racing) + 0.357
6. Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) + 0.400
7. Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) + 0.403
8. Maverick Viñales (Aprilia Racing) + 0.655
9. Luca Marini (Mooney VR46 Racing) + 0.709
10. Pol Espargaro (Repsol Honda Team) + 0.735