Monday, October 2, 2023, 01:47
Since the Moto2 riders set foot on the Motegi circuit, there was one who competed at another level. Thai Somkiat Chantra grew up sporting Asian championships and knew the Japanese track inside out. He was the fastest in the three free practice sessions on Friday and Saturday, he signed the pole in Q2 with the absolute track record and on Sunday in the race he gave no option. Him arriving at the head of the curve and escaping from there. Adding to his record of the weekend, the fastest lap and an absolute victory.
Without emotion for the victory, second position was the best the rest of the grid could aspire to. And that was the objective that leader Pedro Acosta had set for himself. However, the man from Mazarrón was involved in a collision with Canet at the start that made him lose many positions and forced him to come back. By the time he reached third position, local driver Ogura had already opened a gap of more than a second with the bulk of the group. Acosta tightened a few laps, but seeing that he was not able to reduce the distance to the Japanese, he accepted third position.
A podium that was worth its weight in gold taking into account that his only rival in the championship, if he still has rivals, was fighting to enter the top 10. The Italian Arbolino, who during the first half of the season had made regularity His best virtue has been diluted as the season has progressed, and in the last few races he has mixed brilliant results with resounding failures, which has allowed Acosta to open a gap in the general classification.
With the third position in Japan, Acosta added the eleventh podium of the season in fourteen races and is now 50 points ahead of Arbolino. This translates into a margin of two grand prizes difference; and with only six to go, Tiburón de Mazarrón is facing the Moto2 title very much. «It has been a very hard race. I made a mistake at the start and then in the first laps I overheated the front axle. Today the Asian drivers were too fast for us,” Acosta confessed. Fermín Aldeguer finished 22nd and Borja Gómez, who was finally not fired by Fantic Racing, was 24th.
Meanwhile, in MotoGP, Madrid’s Jorge Martín achieved a new victory in a race interrupted by the intense rain that flooded the Motegi circuit. Marc Márquez returned to the podium 350 days later. He was third. In Moto3, the victory went to Jaume Masià, who becomes the leader of the World Championship.
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