In a display of dominance, Fermín Aldeguer secured the victory at the Moto2 Thai Grand Prix in Buriram on Sunday. The Spanish rider had a perfect weekend, claiming pole position and leading from start to finish, taking victory and setting the fastest lap of the race.
Rain threatened before the start of what could have been the title-deciding race. Aldeguer (Beta Tools SpeedUp/Boscoscuro) made a strong start to keep the lead ahead of Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Ajo/Kalex), while Marcos Ramírez (OnlyFans American Racing/Kalex) moved into third place. Tony Arbolino (Elf Marc VDS/Kalex) was in sixth place, a position that would keep him in the title fight.
Arón Canet (Pons Wegow Los40/Kalex) was strong in the early stages but received two Long Lap penalties for a jump start.
On the fifth lap, Jake Dixon (Inde GasGas Aspar/Kalex) made a crucial mistake while battling for fifth with Celestino Vietti (Fantic Racing/Kalex) and collided heavily with his rival, causing both of them to crash and retire. Arbolino, who had dropped to eighth, benefited from the incident and moved up to sixth.
At the front, Aldeguer was in complete control, distancing himself from Acosta. Somkiat Chantra (Idemistu Honda Team Asia/Kalex) was determined to reach the podium in front of his home crowd, moving up to third by swapping positions with Ramírez on the sixth lap.
On the tenth lap, Arbolino continued to make progress, overtaking Alonso López (Beta Tools SpeedUp/Boscoscuro) to secure fifth place.
Aldeguer’s lead continued to grow, while Acosta held a solid second place ahead of Chantra. With nine laps to go, Arbolino climbed to fourth, swapping places with Ramírez. The podium was now the Italian’s next target, but Chantra was over three seconds ahead, and the gap continued to increase.
A mistake by Aldeguer allowed Acosta to slightly close the gap, but it was not enough to threaten the leader. Nothing changed until the end, and Aldeguer secured his second victory of the year, finishing 3.481s ahead of Acosta. Chantra achieved a satisfying home podium, his second of the season following his win in Japan.
Arbolino finished fourth, and Ai Ogura (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia/Kalex) secured fifth place in an intense battle that lasted until the end. These results leave Acosta just one fourth-place finish away from becoming the champion.
Results: