The 20-lap Moto3 contest kicked off race action at Misano on Sunday morning, with a tense four-rider battle for the victory going the way of Aspar’s Alonso.
Poleman Jaume Masia made a lightning getaway on his Leopard Honda, building an early lead of almost a second as the chasing pack battled for places.
Once Ajo KTM’s Deniz Oncu got through into second ahead of Diogo Moreira, he quickly ate into Masia’s lead and slingshot past the Spaniard on the run through Turn 11 on lap 11.
Oncu held firm at the front of the pack as the lead group shrunk to himself, Alonso, Masia and BOE Motorsports’ David Munoz.
Munoz just dropped off from the leading trio over the last lap, with Alonso capitalising on Masia making a move for the lead on Oncu to emerge in front at Turn 14.
Alonso exited the final corner still in front and got to the chequered flag 0.036 seconds ahead of Masia, with Oncu completing the podium.
Munoz was fourth ahead of Intact GP’s Collin Veijer and the SIC58 Honda of Kaito Toba.
The top 10 was completed by Ayumu Sasaki (Intact GP), Angeluss MTA’s Ivan Ortola, Ajo KTM’s Jose Antonio Rueda and Snipers Honda’s Romano Fenati.
A non-score for championship leader Daniel Holgado (Tech3 KTM) has allowed his points gap to be cut to four by Sasaki, with Masia 12 behind, Oncu 17 and Alonso 21 adrift.
Moto3 result:
Pedro Acosta, Red Bull KTM Ajo
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Pedro Acosta took his fifth Moto2 win of the season at Misano, fending off poleman Celestino Vietti for victory.
The Ajo KTM rider lined up second, having missed out on the top spot in qualifying by just 0.08s, and immediately grabbed the lead.
Fantic rider Vietti fell back to third as the pair tussled with Manuel Gonzalez (Yamaha VR46 Master Camp), but a wide move at Turn 3 allowed Vietti to retake second as Pons rider Aron Canet slotted into third.
Acosta’s lead grew to a second by lap eight as Canet again crashed out, handing third to Alonso Lopez (Speed Up Racing).
Vietti reduced the gap to Acosta three laps later, but a flurry of mistakes from the Italian on lap 16 allowed Acosta to build his gap to 1.5s, which ballooned to 6s by the chequered flag.
Lopez secured third ahead of Tony Arbolino (Marc VDS), with Acosta now leading the standings by 34 points from Arbolino.
Moto2 result: