German Moto2: Acosta takes total control for Sachsenring win

A peerless Pedro Acosta broke his rivals with amazing early pace for victory in the Moto2 German Grand Prix at the Sachsenring.

Lisa Lewis

18 Jun 2023

Pedro Acosta piled on the pace and sped away to win the Moto2 German Grand Prix, round seven of the championship.

Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Acosta started from pole, and was on winning form, fresh from victory at Mugello.

A series of in-race lap records, followed by more laps in the 1m 23s bracket broke his rivals and lead to him pulling a wheelie over the line for back to back wins in sensational style, by almost three seconds.

Behind the battle for second unfolded.

Tony Arbolino lead very early on the first lap before Acosta made his break. From then on he was always playing catch up, but could not bridge the gap. Danger then came from behind. After recovering from his start and a few hairy moments aboard his Aspar, Jake Dixon was on a charge - taking chunks out of his Elf Marc VDS rival.

Arbolino needed a faultless final few laps, and he delivered, a near perfect line and pace picked up there was no room around for the British rider. They crossed the line separated by just 0.095s.

Third equals Dixon’s best result to date for his third podium visit this season.

Somkiat Chantra pulled a hard move on Sam Lowes on the first lap to move ahead, and held position for a lonely fourth for Idemitsu Honda team Asia.

MB Conveyors Speed Up’s Alonso Lopez lead the chasing group over the line, the best rider not on Kalex machinery, bringing the Boscoscuro home fifth.

The Spaniard pulled out a late gap on sixth placed Manuel Gonzalez (Correos Prepago Yamaha VR46 Master Camp). Sam Lowes late pace elevated him to the front of the battle for seventh on the second Elf Marc VDS bike.

It was a close run thing to the line between Brit and eighth placed Fermin Aldeguer ( MB Conveyors Speed Up) Albert Arenas (Red Bull KTM Ajo) in ninth and Celestino Vietti, the last of the group completing the top ten for Fantic Racing.

Sergio Garcia was the best of the rookies in eleventh for Pons Wegow Los40, Ahead of Barry Baltus, who was the twelfth rider to see the chequered flag for Fieten Olie Racing.

The remaining points on offer went to Filip Salac (QJMotor Gresini Moto2) in 13th, Ai Ogura (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia) in 14th and Dennis Foggia who was 15th for Italtrans.

Crashes, injuries and replacements

Frontrunner Aron Canet slipped out of contention from third at the last corner on lap six.

The first corner of lap one saw Jeremy Alcoba once again in the thick of a crash, his move left Bo Bendsneyder nowhere to go, he in turn collected Darryn Binder, who was taken out for the second race in a row.

Alcoba was handed a long lap penalty for irresponsible riding, which once completed saw him finish 16th.

Lorenzo Dalla Porta, now a replacement for Alex Escrig at Forward, retired to the pits.

Lukas Tulovic crashed out of his home race, while Joe Roberts fell out of the fight for the final points. Izan Guevara also failed to go the distance.

Borja Gomez began the race weekend, but was the only rider to be declared unfit to ride in a weekend full of huge falls across the classes.

Rory Skinner remains absent following his incident with Alcoba in Italy. Carlos Tatay (19th) makes a Moto2 debut for American Racing as he continues to recover from his fractured foot.

Kohta Nozane (Correos Prepago Yamaha VR46 Master Camp) was replaced by Kasma Daniel who finished, but 22nd and last.

Where does that leave the championship?

Tony Arbolino held a twenty point advantage over Pedro Acosta after the Mugello round.

His second sees him still leading the way now with 139 points as Acosta closes back in. The Spahinsh rider now has 124 to his name. Alonso Lopes remains third overall on 83 points but another podium visit sees Jake Dixon pull closer, now fourth on 79 points.