ROUND 16 / OCTOBER 20-22, 2023
PHILLIP ISLAND CIRCUIT / PHILLIP ISLAND, AUSTRALIA
MOTOGP I FIM MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
P70
Tony Arbolino
scored his first
Moto2 victory
since May.
was a whopping 14 seconds clear
of Aron Canet (Pons Kalex) and
pole-sitter Fermin Aldeguer (Speed
Up Boscoscuro), who had domi-
nated the weekend in the dry.
Red
flags were shown on
lap nine after the wind caused
Celestino Vietti (Fantic Kalex) to
crash at turn one. As it was too
dangerous to restart and 50%
race distance wasn't completed,
results were declared, and half
points awarded. All the while,
Acosta was making impressive
progress from 30th. From 26th
on lap one, the 19-year-old had
climbed to ninth by the time of the
red flags.
Acosta (280.5 points) still leads,
but Arbolino (224.5) regained
points for the first time since Le
Mans and sits 56 behind.
VDS Kalex) scored a timely first
victory since May, while overall
leader Pedro Acosta (Ajo Kalex)
started from the back of the grid
after crashing out on the sight-
ing lap at turn four.
The
Spaniard's spill was just the
beginning of the chaos, with Dun-
lop's rear tire difficult to bring up to
temperature
with the track just 15
degrees warm. First, Alonso Lopez
(Speed Up Boscoscuro) crashed
out of the lead exiting turn four
on the first lap, sending the pack
sprawling to avoid his stricken ma-
chine. Then Sergio Garcia (Aspar
Kalex)
high-sided out at the Hay-
shed on lap four, with third-placed
Filip
Salac (Gresini Kalex) following
him into the gravel.
That handed rain specialist
Arbolino the initiative, and soon he
tion off the final turn in eighth, with
Alex Marquez ninth. A mere 0.869
seconds covered the quartet at the
flag, while Enea Bastianini (Lenovo
Ducati) was 10th. Marc Marquez
(15th) and Pol Espargaro (18th)
faded badly late on, their soft rear
tires turning to jelly.
Bagnaia's 11th podium of the
year ekes out further ground
on Martin (366 – 339), with 27
points now separating the pair.
Bezzecchi (293) lost further
ground, 73 points in arrears.
Moto2
What would ultimately be the
end of Sunday's action was held
in the worst conditions of the
year. And for the first time in
weeks, the Moto2 title fight took
a twist as Tony Arbolino (Marc
