Pedro Acosta defeated Tony Arbolino on the final lap of the Moto2 Americas Grand Prix to secure his second win in the opening three contests of 2023.
The KTM Ajo racer led the early laps as he fended off an attacking Alonso Lopez, though his job was made all the harder after hitting a false neutral while changing down for the slow Turn 12 – causing him to run off circuit and down to fourth.
He swiftly managed to dispatch Pons man Aron Canet and a fading Lopez to make it back into second as mid-distance approached, before then chasing down leader Arbolino.
The Marc VDS pilot remained steady out in front despite the significant pressure being heaped upon him by Acosta, the Italian eventually making an error at Turn 1 with only a few laps to go that allowed Acosta to slip through – the he redressed the balance soon after as the Ajo pilot ran wide at Turn 12 once again.
Acosta was keen to get back on terms with Arbolino though as he searched for a way through as the final tour began, the 2021 Moto3 world champion eventually deciding to make a move by diving down the inside to snatch the lead away at Turn 12.
He then put on an impressive display of defensive riding across the final corners to take the chequered flag just 0.146s ahead of Arbolino, and well ahead of the rabid battle for the final step on the rostrum.
Speed Up man Fermin Aldeguer looked good to finally secure a debut intermediate class podium finish as he began the final lap in front, though Canet made up good time through the esses and managed to slide past the Spaniard.
The two continued to battle across the final sector of the lap before eventually both running themselves off track, allowing Bo Bensneyder to sneak through and steal third at the death – the Dutch rider scoring his maiden series podium result in his 90th start despite having started the final lap in sixth.
Jeremy Alcoba led home Gresini team-mate Filip Salac in what was an ultra-strong day for the Italian operation, with Aldeguer eventually coming home sixth.
Lopez was seventh on the other Speed Up having taken profit of Canet’s final lap escapades, the latter taking eighth ahead of pole-man Celestino Vietti – who struggled for speed all race – and Manuel Gonzalez.
Ai Ogura managed to score the final point in 15th on his comeback ride just behind a struggling Sam Lowes and Italtrans’ Dennis Foggia, the Honda Team Asia rider narrowly preventing home hero Joe Roberts scoring a point in his home event.
Jake Dixon saw his chances of adding a second-straight podium finish to his account ended after crashing at Turn 9 on the warm-up lap, the GasGas rider seemingly touching the kerb on the inside of the corner and going down into retirement before he’d even begun.
Barry Baltus saw a strong day ended after a crash at Turn 9 – in similar circumstances to those that Dixon fell victim to earlier prior to the outing – having worked his way up to the top five on his RW Racing GP-run machine in the opening stages of the encounter.
