Ai Ogura pulled off a tyre management masterclass on his way to Catalan Moto2 success, leading a second-successive MT Helmets one-two as Fermin Aldeguer crashed out from the lead.
Ogura led team-mate Sergio Gracia across the line as Aspar’s Jake Dixon completed the podium after a difficult start to his 2024 campaign.
Garcia and Aldeguer’s start allowed the pair to form a 0.5 advantage over the rest of the field, with Ogura gaining seven places to take third at the end of the first turn.
Izan Guevara, Somkiat Chantra, and Ayumu Suzuki had their races end on the first lap with crashes in Turn 1 and Turn 4 respectively.
Ogura fell a couple of places down the pecking order with Albert Arenas and Celestino Vietti forging their way through early on.
Joe Roberts, who was caught up in the tangling between Guevara and Chantra at the start was running in 10th inside the opening five laps in his bid to get himself back up the order.
Out front Aldgeur and Garcia raced away into the distance forming a sizable chunk between themselves and the next cluster of riders, with Alonso Lopez occupying third following a lunge on Arenas.
Ogura completed an overtake on Arenas to put himself within podium contention, with the Ajo KTM rider struggling to maintain pace.
Aron Canet struggles at the start put him down the pecking order, but he forced his way back up the pack to sixth and was closely monitoring Arenas in front.
At the halfway stage Aldeguer received a track limits warning and it appeared he was struggling with tyre management, but the future Ducati MotoGP rider was able to stretch the lead back to 0.7s.
Ogura’s strong braking saw him regain third place again, overtaking his rival Lopez inside Turn 1.
Canet eventually mustered a move on Arenas, before replicating a move on Vietti to put himself inside the top five.
Vietti was dealing with pressure behind from Senna Aguis and Jake Dixon but lost the front heading into Turn 10 on Lap 13.
Canet dispatched Lopez to progress further up the grid to 4th.
As Adleguer fought to keep his lead ahead of Garcia, he triggered a long-lap penalty for multiple track limits excursions.
With seven laps to go, he went on to complete his punishment but went in way too hot to the long-lap loop at Turn 1 and sensationally crashed out of the lead.
Canet’s progress up the grid came to an abrupt end with the Spaniard crashing out only a few corners later on the same lap as Aldeguer’s blunder.
Garcia inherited the lead and remained out in front for the following few laps, but his team-mate Ogura quickly caught up and made the winning overtake on Lap 18.
Dixon was able to dispatch Lopez into Turn 2 to take third following the crashes earlier on, but a 7.5s deficit to the front two proved too much to cover with only four laps on the clock.
Current championship runner-up Roberts was another victim of the long lap penalty due to exceeding track limits, putting him from 7th to 9th as he failed to replicate the strong form he showed in the previous rounds.
Ogura was able to cruise to victory with Garcia following close behind to make it a 1-2 for the MT Helmets Boscoscuro team.
Dixon capitalised on track-limit mistakes and crashes from riders around him to round off a podium spot.
Jeremy Alcoba made a stunning rise up the grid from 22nd to finish in fourth, with his late-race pace, in particular, ensuring he finished ahead of Agius in fifth.
Arenas settled for a respectable sixth with Marcos Ramirez rising twelve places from his qualifying place to finish seventh.
Lopez was unable to match the front runners and dropped off further as the race went on, but the Spaniard bought his bike home in eighth.
Roberts finished ninth due to Zonta van den Goorbergh and Arbolino falling down the pecking order due to penalties, with Jorge Navarro unable to pounce at the end to finish 12th.
Filip Salac and Jaume Masia occupied 13th and 14th respectively and Darryn Binder earned himself the final point in 15th.
Garcia’s second-place finish saw him extend his championship lead with 109 points to Roberts’ 89 after an underwhelming race for the American.
Ogura’s classy win sees him in a close third on 88 points and Aldeguer is cast further adrift after his crash in fourth, with 63 points.
