Tony Arbolino fended off Ai Ogura on the last lap of the Malaysian Moto2 Grand Prix to score a second win of 2022, while the Japanese rider crashed.
The Italian made a strong start from the middle of the front row to move into the leadership from the very start of the contest, he and Ogura quickly beginning to gap third-placed Alonso Lopez by nearly a second-per-lap.
Arbolino led comfortably across the opening half of the race as Ogura looked to be taking things easy, though the Honda Team Asia eventually turned up the wick and made the move for the lead at Turn 1 with around a third of the race left to run.
His time out front would prove short-lived though after running wide at the same bend a lap later, though the Japanese ace’s speed soon brought him back onto the rear of the Marc VDS-run Kalex as the race entered its final few circulations.
Ogura got within range of Arbolino and attacked him into Turn 9 for the final time, though disaster would follow as he asked a little too much of his front tyre and slide out of contention – allowing Arbolino to take the chequered flag by a monstrous 11.4 seconds ahead of Lopez, who just held off a charging Jake Dixon on the final tour.
Ogura’s demise allowed Augusto Fernandez a huge sigh of relief having looked set to take fifth after passing VR46 Master Camp’s Manuel Gonzalez at the end, the Spaniard now gifted the series lead to the tune of 9.5 points with just one race left to run.
Marcel Schrotter was sixth for Intact GP ahead of Cameron Beaubier’s American Racing-prepared machine, while Aron Canet managed to recover to eighth having dropped all the way to 15th on the opening tour as a result of a crash between Somkiat Chantra and Pedro Acosta.
Chantra had made a strong start and tried to look at passing Dixon for third at Turn 2, though the Indonesian ended up clipping the rear of the Brit’s GasGas and tucked the front of his bike – cleaning out an innocent Acosta in the process.
Jeremy Alcoba took ninth on the sister Intact entry, while Fermin Aldeguer completed the top ten for Speed Up.
Celestino Vietti’s horror conclusion to the second half of the year continued at the Sepang International Circuit as he suffered a fifth crash in the past seven races, the VR46 rider now under pressure of losing a top five championship result due to the ever closing Dixon and Lopez, with Arbolino having already dumped him to fifth overall with his win.
