Senna Agius rode to a dramatic victory in the COTA Moto2 race, which was overshadowed by a chaotic first lap pile-up involving seven riders.
Agius responded to the chaotic conditions and looked almost unflappable, as he cruised into the lead on Lap 3 and took victory by almost half a second.
There was immediate drama at the start of the race as championship leader Dani Holgado crashed out at the first corner after making contact with home favourite Joe Roberts.
The Moto2 race was red-flagged after a massive incident on Lap 1 that saw seven riders crash at Turn 11. Alberto Ferrandez appeared to have a brake issue and went steaming into the group of riders ahead – with Angel Piqueras, Filip Salac, Collin Veijer, David Alonso, Sergio Garcia and Daniel Munoz all involved.
All riders were allowed to restart if they were able to, but Holgado was awarded a long lap penalty for the first corner incident.
Polesitter Barry Baltus was also given a long lap after moving under braking on the run down to the first corner, with Munoz penalised for the same thing.
Alonso Lopez made the best start and took the lead going down into the first corner ahead of Celestino Vietti, who moved forward from the second row. However, Vietti had two massive moments on the first lap which saw him drop back from second to fifth.
The Italian’s struggles allowed Baltus back into second place and, knowing he had a long lap to serve, the Belgian wasted no time in getting back in front of Lopez for the lead.
Behind the leading pair, Senna Agius set the fastest lap of the race as he charged onto the podium. By the end of lap three, the Australian found himself in the lead of the race.
Baltus finally served his long lap on Lap 6, which dropped him down to sixth, and lost a further position to Alonso in sixth. In fact, the Colombian set the best lap time of the race and started a late charge for the podium.
But with three laps to go, it was Vietti who took the lead of the race. However, Agius made it back through at Turn 3 on the penultimate lap after a mistake from the Italian.
Agius had enough to cross the line to claim the race victory, taking the flag by 0.497s in a victory dedicated to his IntactGP team.
Despite his errors, Vietti took second place, while Izan Guevara completed the podium in third.
Alonso didn’t quite have enough for a podium and settled for fourth place, but got ahead of new championship leader Manuel Gonzalez in fifth.
Baltus earned a sixth-placed finish following his long lap penalty, while Lopez cooked his tyres and only managed seventh.
Alex Escrig continued his good form in eighth, as a great effort from the American Racing team to rebuild Joe Roberts’ bike saw them rewarded with ninth.
Tony Arbolino completed the top 10 despite getting caught up in the initial incident, before Ivan Ortola edged ahead of Adrian Huertas for 11th.
Aron Canet crossed the line in 13th, as Munoz’s dramatic race ended in 14th.
Ayumu Sasaki faced a double long lap penalty, but crossed the line for the final points position in 15th.
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