Celestino Vietti dominated the Malaysian GP in Moto2 and won masterfully in Sepang, in a race that had Jorge Navarro in second, who is racing as a substitute. A monumental error at the end by Jake Dixon gave Izan Guevara his first podium finish.
Everything was ready for the start of the Moto2 race in Sepang, with Jorge Navarro starting from pole position. It should be noted the absence of Ayumu Sasaki who fractured his right wrist and ankle on the first day of work.
Celestino Vietti had a strong start and very quickly moved into first position, with Ai Ogura as the closest in pursuit, Marcos Ramírez was third, Jorge Navarro fourth and Albert Arenas fifth. Alberto Surra, in the opposite direction, fell, with Zonta VD Goorbergh and Senna Agius.
Vietti was giving his all and quickly managed to have a big advantage over Ramírez, now second, with the two being separated by 1.480s. Izan Guevara was gaining positions and was already fourth, ahead of Navarro.
In the following laps Vietti was losing pace and with 11 laps to go the difference to the #24 was 0.325s and was gradually falling. Navarro had already climbed back to fourth and relegated Guevara to fifth.
With 10 laps to go, the top ten was as follows: Vietti, Ramírez, Ogura, Navarro, Guevara, Jake Dixon, Deniz Oncu, Tony Arbolino, Arenas and Manuel González.
Navarro didn’t take long to overtake Ogura and thus reach the podium positions and shortly after attacked the second place, previously held by his teammate Ramírez. Diogo Moreira meanwhile reached the new place, but Arenas responded and regained the position.
Ogura, the reigning champion, wanted more and successfully attacked Ramírez and was now in the top three. Vietti led by 0.408s.
The Japanese rider, however, seven laps from the end had a technical problem and was out of the race:
📉 @AiOgura79 plummets down the order!
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) November 3, 2024
It's a technical issue that rules him out of the race! 😱#MalaysianGP 🇲🇾 pic.twitter.com/YZwTLcixq5
That was SO close! 😱
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) November 3, 2024
Cat-like reflexes from @jakedixonracing to avoid @AiOgura79 as he stopped due to a technical issue⚡🚨#MalaysianGP 🇲🇾 pic.twitter.com/ExUmzV53mU
Dixon was the new third classified but the difference to Navarro was considerable, with 1.7s separating the rider who is racing in place of Joe Roberts and the #96.
After a more complicated phase Vietti seemed to have regained his rhythm and was now gaining time on Navarro, with the Italian leading by 0.684s over the #9.
With two laps to go Vietti had 0.992s over Navarro and only a disaster would prevent him from taking the victory, he who returned to Sepang after injury. The eyes were on the fight for fifth place, with Ramírez 0.2s behind Arbolino.
LAST LAP! 🚨
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) November 3, 2024
Can Vietti hold strong to win this?@jakedixonracing SLOWS DOWN! And @IzanGuevara28 is on course for a maiden #Moto2 podium! 🤯#MalaysianGP 🇲🇾 pic.twitter.com/kXdXhFT4sB
As soon as he realized the monumental error, Dixon accelerated but could hardly get on the podium.
The race ended shortly after with Vietti securing the victory, Navarro brilliant with a second place and Guevara making his debut on the intermediate class podiums, after an offer from his teammate.
On the last lap something very strange happened with Dixon, with the rider losing a lot of speed on the straight for a few seconds, giving the whole feeling that he thought the race was over. Who didn’t miss the opportunity to get to third was Guevara.