Manuel Gonzalez earned the first victory of the 2026 Moto2 season in a twice red-flagged race at the Thai Grand Prix.
After the race was shortened to seven laps due to two red flags, Gonzalez had the momentum on the final restart and took the lead on the penultimate lap on his way to victory.
Polesitter Senna Agius lost positions throughout the opening two corners on the initial start as Izan Guevara emerged into the lead.
However, Guevara then made an error in the run to Turn 3 and was re-overtaken by Agius, though Dani Holgado was able to turn under the pair and take the lead of the race.
Ivan Ortola also made a strong start to the race and moved into second place behind Holgado after capitalising on mistakes from Agius and Guevara.
The race was red-flagged on Lap 3 after David Alonso highsided in the middle of the pack, and was collected by Senna Agius and Filip Salac.
All riders were conscious after the incident and Agius and Salac were allowed to restart from the pitlane, while Alonso went to the medical centre after being stretchered off the circuit.
On the restart, Holgado inherited pole position and made the best start to lead the second part race ahead of Guevara and Ortola.
However, a second red flag was thrown out moments later after a crash involving Sergio Garcia and Luca Lunetta saw both riders stretchered away with leg injuries.
The race was then restarted for a second time for a seven-lap shootout, with Holgado returning to the front of the grid alongside both Ortola and Guevara.
Guevara made the best start off the line and took the lead ahead of Holgado into the first corner, while Manuel Gonzalez took third from QJMotor’s Ortola.
Gonzalez then tried a move on Holgado but ran wide after the move appeared to be done, with the pair making contact on the exit of Turn 3.
Gonzalez continued to try inventive moves to get past Holgado, and forced his way through at Turn 5 to take second place.
The 2025 runner-up then set his sights on Guevara, who continued to look strong in the lead despite Gonzalez continuing to close in behind.
After two laps of studying Guevara’s movements, Gonzalez made his move once again at Turn 5, with the Pramac rider unable to respond.
Though Guevara tried to force a move on the outside at the final corner, Gonzalez was able to hold him off to the line.
The IntactGP rider took the flag to take victory in the opening race of the campaign, 0.099s clear of Guevara in second.
Holgado closed the gap to the leading pair over the final lap and completed the podium in third for Aspar.
Ortola finished fourth after a disappointing restart, while Collin Veijer completed the top five for KTM Ajo.
SpeedRS’ Celestino Vietti crossed the line in sixth, over a second ahead of former team-mate Alonso Lopez who took seventh for Gresini.
Daniel Munoz completed his race in eighth, while Deniz Oncu earned ninth place on his first start with the MarcVDS team.
Ayumu Sasaki rounded out the top 10, edging out the second MarcVDS rider Aron Canet in 11th.
Forward’s Alex Escrig was 12th, while Tony Arbolino gained seven places on the restart and finished 13th ahead of Fantic team-mate Barry Baltus.
Rookie Alberto Ferrandez completed the points finishers in 15th for the Pramac Yamaha team.
Discussion about this post