Qualifying

Tony Arbolino (Elf Marc VDS Racing Team) took pole position for the Gran Premio Red Bull di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini. By setting the fastest qualifying time of 1:35.229, Arbolino claimed his maiden pole position in the intermediate class and would be set to start the race ahead of Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Celestino Vietti who followed closely behind in P2 only 0.011s down. Ai Ogura (MT Helmets – MSI) took the final front row spot after finishing in third place.

With an intense end to the second practice session on Saturday morning, Aron Canet (Fantic Racing) finished the fastest off the group, with Championship leader Sergio Garcia (MT Helmets – MSI) finishing in 15th place.

After a disappointing Practice 2 resulted in a P20 finish, Alonso Lopez (Beta Tools SpeedUp) topped the Q1 timings to progress to the second Qualifying session, alongside Bo Bendsneyder (Preicanos Racing Team), Filip Salac (Elf Marc VDS Racing Team) and Senna Agius (Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP). Garcia’s bad luck continued as he failed to make the cut for Q2 and would be forced to start Sunday’s race from P24.

A dramatic beginning to Q2 saw Dennis Fogia (Italtrans Racing Team) and Manuel Gonzalez (QJMOTOR Gresini Moto2) crashing out within the opening five minutes of the session. Meanwhile, Diogo Moreira (Italtrans Racing Team) set the initial fastest lap in the early stages with a time of 1:35.521.

Moreira’s time remained the one to beat until the final two minutes when the gird, who were back out on track, set their new fastest lap times with Arbolino pipping the #10 to pole position.

Canet was set to head the second row after narrowly avoiding crashing on the exit of Turn 4 and finishing in a strong fourth place. He would joined by Moreira, who dropped down to fifth place after spending most of the session on top, and Albert Arenas (QJMOTOR Gresini Moto2).

Joe Roberts (OnlyFans American Racing Team) finished in seventh to take the first spot on the third row, alongside Lopez and Gonzalez.

Race

Ai Ogura took the victors spoils at the Gran Premio Red Bull di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini, with a move on Aron Canet in the final stages of the Grand Prix. With this win crucial in terms of Championship points, Ogura now leads the title fight after securing 25 points.

Pole-sitter Arbolino had a good launch off of the line, keeping ahold of his lead and setting the pace for the rest of the pack on Lap 1. It was not all smooth sailing though as the Italian had some competition fighting for P1 on the track, including Ogura and Canet.

The first drama of the race came at the end of Lap 1 as a result of Beta Tools SpeedUp’s Alonso Lopez losing the front of the bike and crashing out of the procedures at the final corner. Canet didn’t lose focus of his target and moved into second place in the opening stages of the race, with a strong pace after starting on the second row of the grid, the Spaniard made quick work of demoting Ogura down to third place.

Further down the order, Sergio Garcia (MT Helmets – MSI) continued to build on his disappointing weekend, sitting outside of the top 20 riders in the opening laps of the race, with some work to do to get into the points. He slowly began to pick up the pace and make his way through the field, with Somkiat Chantra (IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia) following along for company.

After a tough qualifying saw him start from the fourth row on the grid, Fermin Aldeguer continued to lap around the circuit within the top 10, battling with Albert Arenas and Diogo Moreira.

The lead of the race changed hands on Lap 10, with Canet stealing P1 from Arbolino, on what was a tough lap for the Italian rider. Arbolino continued to drop backwards down the order, losing a place to Ogura after running wide off the track at Turn 14.

The Japanese rider continued on, closing the gap to Canet with each sector that passed, until the advantage was down to just three-tenths of a second.

Lap 17 saw Sergio Garcia enter the crucial point-scoring positions after making a move on Joe Roberts to take 15th place. He made quick work of Marcos Ramirez and Ayumu Sasaki to leap in 13th place, taking further provisional points along the way.

After eyeing up a move for the lead throughout Lap 18, Ogura made a lunge on Lap 19 to take P1 from Canet. Also chasing a podium position was Celestino Vietti, the Italian rider edging ever closer to the lead group, but it wasn’t to be as he soon crashed at Turn 15 on Lap 20.

With the riders now into the closing stages of the San Marino GP, Ogura’s pace seemed to be unmatched, with the Japanese rider holding on to take the chequered flag as victor, ahead of Canet and Arbolino.

Manuel Gonzalez had to settle for fourth place after being unable to catch the leading group, finishing ahead of Jake Dixon. The British rider took the final spot in the top-five with Aldeguer crossing the line in sixth. Filip Salac took the flag in seventh place, solidifying a great day for the Elf Marc VDS Racing Team, ahead of rookie Moreira.

After both completing strong rides, the final spots inside of the top 10 were awarded to Arena and Darryn Binder (Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP). Sergio Garcia had managed to make his way up to 12th by the conclusion of the race, after starting from 24th due to a disappointing performance during qualifying on the Saturday.