Ai Ogura decimated the Moto2 field in the Spanish Grand Prix to score his first ever grand prix victory at Jerez after leading every lap.
Ogura made a strong start from his maiden pole position to lead the way into the opening bend before setting an electric pace in the first segment of the encounter, the Honda Team Asia pilot pulling Pons Racing’s Aron Canet and Marc VDS’ Tony Arbolino with him.
A tussle between the Canet and Arbolino for second – eventually settled in favour of the Pons man – looked to have given Ogura the gap he needed to escape, though Canet quickly reduced the amount of daylight between him and the leader.
Possibly struggling in the closing stages with his fractured left arm, Canet began to slip adrift of Ogura as the Japanese racer upped his pace, leaving him to sprint way to take the chequered flag a commanding 2.5 seconds clear of Canet having led every lap of the way in metronomic style to claim his first ever win across all classes.
Arbolino started to struggle for speed as the laps bled away, the Italian being run down by a charging Augusto Fernandez towards the end though he would ultimately hold on by just over a second over the Ajo KTM rider.
Marcel Schrotter managed to get the better of series leader Celestino Vietti in the closing stanza to complete the top five ahead of the VR46 entry, with Bo Bensneyder scoring a solid seventh for the SAG Racing outfit.
Portimao race winner Joe Roberts was eighth for Italtrans ahead of Albert Arenas, with the sister Pons bike of Jorge Navarro rounding out the top ten.
Jake Dixon – who dominated the Spanish weekend prior to qualifying – saw his challenge ended with a crash at the final bend just prior to mid-distance, the GasGas Aspar rider attempting to pass Speed Up’s Fermin Aldeguer at the corner for sixth before losing the front and wiping the pair out.
Countryman Sam Lowes also saw his day end ended early with a crash at Turn 8 from fourth, while Somkiat Chantra also went down from the position after falling victim to Turn 8 just one circulation later.
Ogura’s success sees him move to within 19 points of Vietti in the Moto2 riders championship heading to Le Mans in a fortnight, with Arbolino a further 11 markers adrift in third overall.
