MotoMatters.com | Kropotkin Thinks

The intermediate class race kept the crowds on the edge of their seats, watching two of their own battling for victory until the final lap. Although Aron Canet did his best to prevent that, the Italian flag waved at the top of the podium after Celestino Vietti took advantage of his rivals’ mistakes and overcome quite a few of his own to take a second victory of the season in the run to the finish line. A disgruntled Canet had to settle for yet another second place, for less than three hundredths of a second, while Tony Arbolino took a bittersweet third place on home soil, having led the way for most of proceedings but denied by a gear shift issue on the last lap. 

Arbolino and Vietti were quick to grab the spotlight on home soil, getting ahead of poleman Canet into the first corner, while Ai Ogura made a rapid start from 7^th up to 4^th, with Fermin Aldeguer completing the top 5 on the opening lap. Joe Roberts dropped from the front row down to 6^th, ahead of Jake Dixon, Marcos Ramirez, Senna Agius and Dennis Foggia, who completed the top 10. Having started 17^th, Alonso Lopez quickly got up to 12^th position, while Sergio Garcia was sluggish off the line at dropped to 14^th.

Arbolino stretched an eight-tenth advantage at the front in the blink of an eye, with Vietti leading the pursuit but slow to bridge the gap given the fast pace set by Arbolino. While Canet held onto Vietti’s pursuit, Ogura dropped nearly a second back by lap five but was under no immediate threat from Aldeguer. Roberts was already a rather distant 6^th position and had Dixon, Ramirez, Agius not far behind. Lap six proved particularly costly for a couple of title contenders, with Garcia crashing out at the first corner and Dixon falling off at turn two. Already knocking at the doors of the top 10 after a handful of laps, Lopez got promoted to 9^th, with Manuel Gonzalez joining the top 10.  

Back at the front, Arbolino lost some of his early advantage but was still maintaining a half second gap over Vietti and Canet, while Ogura appeared in no rush to join the podium festivities after getting the notification about his rivals’ mishaps. The championship leader dropped nearly two seconds back by lap 10 and allowed the leading trio to hog the limelight. By lap 10, Arbolino, Vietti and Canet were almost inseparable at the front and unmatched on pace, but the first attack didn’t come until lap 17, when Canet took second away from Vietti at turn two, helped by a mistake from the Italian. The exchange put the duo on the backfoot, and they needed another lap to close the half-second gap to Arbolino but did so successfully and had five laps left to challenge for victory. 

Despite intense pressure from behind, Arbolino continued to set a hot pace at the front, but he finally left a door open with four laps to go – a first hint at a gear shifting issue that handed control of the race to Canet. Arbolino easily reclaimed second when Vietti had another moment at the final corner, and scares continued for the leaders, finally dropping the pace into the 1:36s for the final couple of laps. However, the trio were committed to taking the battle to the chequered flag and although it briefly looked like Vietti dropped out of contention by seven tenths of a second, repeated exchanges between Arbolino and Canet on the penultimate lap allowed him to rejoin the party.   

The trio were once again inseparable going into the final lap and although Arbolino looked strong, he ran wide at turn 14 and it allowed Canet and Vietti to sneak past. Vietti then saw an opportunity out of the final corner, and he snatched victory in the slipstream to the line by less than three hundredths of a second. Arbolino crossed the finish line a rather distant third, while Ogura managed his advantage over Aldeguer until the chequered flag to claim 4^th. Aldeguer completed the top 5, with a lonely ride for Roberts in 6^th, while Agius resisted some late pressure from Ramirez for 7^th place. Lopez and Filip Salac completed the top 10 positions.

Although missing out on the podium, Ogura had plenty to celebrate as his advantage in the world championship standings ballooned to 22 points over Garcia, 45 over Roberts and 48 over Lopez. Aldeguer is 5^th, 55 points back and two ahead of Canet. 

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