Pedro Acosta cruised to a maiden Moto2 win at Mugello as series leader Celestino Vietti retired late on after his VR46 machine broke down.
Acosta managed to jump pole-man Canet off the start, though the Pons rider kept the Ajo rookie under pressure across the opening half of the contest as they edged away from a close battle for third between Marc VDS pair Sam Lowes and Tony Arbolino, as well as Honda Team Asia’s Ai Ogura.
The duo had built up around a second-and-a-half over the rest – Canet shadowing Acosta as he looked to tee up a move – before the Spaniard ultimately made a costly mistake into the final bend just past mid-distance, Canet losing the front of his machine into the final bend.
This gifted Acosta a near two second lead over the battle for what was now second, the reigning Moto3 world champion ultimately extending his advantage over the closing circulations to take the chequered flag four seconds clear of Joe Roberts.
The American looked after his rubber well throughout to eventually get the better of both Marc VDS riders as well as Ogura to establish himself in second, his ride made all the quieter after Vietti ran into technical problems just a few laps from the end.
The Italian possessed strong race speed having struggled across the weekend prior to the race and looked set to take at least third and potentially second from Roberts, his issue promoting championship rival Ogura to the final rostrum spot.
The battle for fourth initially looked to be between Lowes and Arbolino, the latter attacking the Brit for the spot in the closing stages, though things got heated as Arbolino ran Lowes out at Turn 2 just a few tours from home – causing him to crash out with the Italian picking up a long-lap as a result.
This put him under pressure from a charging Augusto Fernandez across the closing miles, the Ajo man passing him on the final lap before Arbolino managed to draft past by a slender 0.015s to re-take fourth.
Jake Dixon was sixth on his GasGas Aspar entry ahead of American Racing’s Cameron Beaubier, while Speed Up newcomer Alonso Lopez once again impressed with a strong run to eighth in only his second start of 2022 with the squad.
Marcel Schrotter took ninth for the Intact outfit, while Albert Arenas completed the top ten on the second Aspar.
One-off team-mate Mattia Pasini ended up 16th in his first intermediate class race in nearly two years having ran well within the top ten early on, the two-time Moto2 race winner wild-carding at his home event.
Vietti’s costly retirement means he is now level on points with Ogura heading to Barcelona next weekend, Canet hanging onto third overall but now 19 markers adrift of the leading pair.
