A first win since the 2024 Qatar GP was signed, sealed and delivered by Alonso Lopez (ITALJET Gresini Moto2), who completed a perfect weekend at MotorLand Aragon to return to winning ways in Moto2. A perfect 19-lap race was unravelled by the Spaniard to see the polesitter beat second place Izan Guevara (BLU CRU Pramac Yamaha Moto2) by 0.8s, with the rider second in the championship holding off David Alonso (CFMOTO Inde Aspar Team) in a last-lap thriller to notch up an important 20 points.
From a first pole position in three years, Lopez gobbled up the holeshot with relative ease, while it was as you were in the top four with Guevara, Daniel Holgado (CFMOTO Inde Aspar Team), and Gonzalez holding onto their places. Collin Veijer (Red Bull KTM Ajo) leapt ahead of Alonso for P5, as Senna Agius (Liqui Moly Dynavolt Intact GP) and Ivan Ortola (QJMOTOR – Reverte – MSI) made the aggressive starts they craved from lower down the grid. The Australian and Spaniard were up to P7 and P8.
The race then settled down, with the top nine down to Angel Piqueras (QJMOTOR – Reverte – MSI) split by just over two and a half seconds on Lap 5 of 19. And at the end of that lap, leader Lopez set the fastest lap to nudge his lead over Guevara past the half-second mark.
As we clocked onto Lap 10, the race began to bubble up and really get going. Veijer, having failed a lap earlier, made a lovely Lap 9, Turn 16 move stick on Holgado to climb into P3, as Alonso then pounced at Turn 1 on the championship leader. This forced Gonzalez off the ideal line into Turn 2, and seizing the opportunity was the #18’s teammate Agius.
A lap later, Alonso hit copy and paste to slip past teammate Holgado for P4 at Turn 1. Agius was the next to demote Holgado a place, the Australian making a slick move stick into Turn 13 on Lap 13 for P5, and it wasn’t long before Gonzalez passed Holgado too, but now, the top four were over a second up the road from the Agius, Gonzalez, Holgado, and Ortola group.
That top four included Lopez, Guevara, Veijer, and Alonso, and having just lost P3 to Alonso at Turn 1, Veijer endured a fast crash at Turn 4 to end his podium hopes. And further behind, Gonzalez lost a couple of places having been close to making contact with teammate Agius at Turn 1. The title-chase frontrunner was P7 with five laps to go.
In the closing stages, the question was simply: could Guevara or Alonso reel in Lopez? Those rear tyre life worries weren’t making an appearance from the polesitter, and with two laps to go, the #21 was 0.7s clear of Guevara, who in turn had Alonso breathing down his neck.
Last lap time! Lopez led by 0.6s, with Alonso by far the fastest of the lead trio. But barring a mistake, Lopez had this in the bag. Guevara had a proper job on his hands to keep Alonso behind him though, and the duo went into battle at Turn 8. Music to the ears of Lopez. Guevara and Alonso were elbows out, with the former holding off the Colombian for now.
A slight mistake into Turn 14 then cost Guevara an ideal run through Turn 15 and down the 0.9km back straight, and it gave Alonso another sniff. Chucking his Kalex-Triumph up the inside of Guevara’s Boscoscuro-Triumph, Alonso ran in ever so slightly too hot, which allowed Guevara to sweep back through on the inside and clinch a crucial 20 points. And it’s a big return to form for Alonso after his disastrous Silverstone weekend – that was needed.
Up the road though, Lopez completed the perfect weekend. A lights-to-flag finish. Zero errors. And a first win since 2024. And having fractured his hand a few weeks ago, that will taste sweet for the Spaniard.
Classy rides from Agius and Ortola saw them complete the top five to gain some important points on sixth place Gonzalez, who now sees his title race lead drop to 32.5 points ahead of the Misano-Red Bull Ring double header.
Holgado had to settle for P7, while Deniz Öncü (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) backed up his Silverstone P8 with another in Aragon to equal his season-best result from P18 on the grid. An under-the-radar performance from the Turk.
British GP podium finisher Alex Escrig (KLINT Racing Team) recovered from a little nudge off circuit in the opening exchanges to earn P9, with Adrian Huertas (Italtrans Racing Team) rounding out the Aragon top 10.
So, the championship continues to tighten as we now look forward to enjoying more cracking Moto2 action when we land at Misano in less than two weeks.