2024 Catalan Moto2 Grand Prix, Barcelona - Race Results

Round six of the Moto2 championship, the Catalan Grand Prix, saw Ai Ogura stage a memorable run through the pack, with a final move on his teammate bringing victory, his first of the season.

The Japanese rider gave chase to a lonely Sergio Garcia, his fellow MT Helmets - MSI Boscoscuro rider.

Garcia had started form pole but only lead briefly as Aldeguer pushed to the front at the start of lap two in a race filled with crashes and penalties.

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One often lead to the other and with the Spaniards out front pushing each other to the limit, they both were handed track limits warnings. As the MV Conveyors Speed Up rider visibly struggle to keep his bike out of the danger zone, the inevitable happened and he was handed a trip around the penalty loop.

Taking it immediately from first place, Aldeguer entered in race mode and had not slowed enough, was late on the brakes and found himself flicked off and sat in the gravel.

That left Garcia out front with a lead, but Ogura was on a charge as he had been all race after qualifying tenth.

Once in sight at the start of lap 18, the #79 used his slipstream over the line and blocked hard to take over out front, holding on to lead over the line by 3.816s.

The duo had swapped position but it was a team 1-2 again for MT Helmets - MSI at their true home track out of the Spanish rounds.

Ogura’s win is his first since the Japanese round in the 2022 season.

Jake Dixon, after a series of accidents and injuries was yet to score a point this season for CFMoto Inde Aspar. His most recent injury has seen the British rider tear the ligaments in his ankle, but he pushed in qualifying, for eleventh in a close session.

In race trim, Dixon did not initially make huge gains, sat in ninth. A series of falls ahead gave the #96 the motivation to rally, pushing his way through the biggest battle on track and pulling away for a solo, lonely third.

Jeremy Alcoba lead the warring bikes over the line after constant swapping to lead the quartet. The Yamaha VR46 rider had also made an impressive run through the pack, from a 22nd place start for his best result of the season so far.

Senna Agius was the top rookie and fought back for fifth for Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP, all the more impressive as the Australian had to work through the group twice after his own penalty for exceeding track limits too often, handed out late in the race on lap fourteen when he had made it to sixth.

Albert Arenas had been running at the front in third for the first few laps, but used a lot of tyre, dropping back into the pack. The Gresini rider was as low as eighth in the back of the battle before fighting back to finish sixth.

That left Marcos Ramirez seventh as the top American Racing rider. Alonso Lopez was eighth for MV Conveyors Speed Up after losing contact.

Zonta van den Goorbergh had a penalty but was moved up to ninth for RW Racing - after his own run around the penalty loop Tony Arbolino was asked to drop a place for overtaking under yellow flags, which was applied retrospectively, shifting the Elf Marc VDS rider back to tenth.

There was a gap before Joe Roberts arrived for eleventh. The American avoided a move from Daniel Munoz on the opening lap which saw him clip Somkiat Chantra, who then collected Moto3’s race inspiration Izan Guevara.

Jorge Navarro was the best of the wildcard entries in a respectable twelfth on his return with Klint Forward Racing, pressuring Roberts to the line after sitting in 21st on the grid.

The remaining points on offer went to Filip Salac (Elf Marc VDS) in 13th, Jaume Masia (Pertamina Mandalika Gas Up), the best of the Moto3 graduates in 14th and Darryn Binder (Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP) in 15th.

Mario Aji was close behind, just missing out in 16th for Idemitsu Honda Team Asia.

The second wildcard rider, Mattia Pasini at Speed Up, finished 18th.

Manuel Gonzalez received a three position grid penalty for his slow riding ruining the lap Lopez was on in Q2. His issues increased when he fell on lap five, but rejoined to finish 23rd and two laps down.

Crashes, Injuries and Replacements

There were further falls from the front of the race for Aron Canet and Celestino Vietti.

Daniel Munoz, replacing Bo Bendsneyder one again, crashed out a few laps after his early move at lap one.

Diogo Moreira, Dennis Foggia and Ayumu Sasaki also failed to go the distance.

Championship Standings

Second sees Garcia move on to 109 and retain his lead in the standings. Ogura moves up two places to second thanks to his win, now 21 points behind with a total of 88. Joe Roberts is one point further back in third overall. Aldeguer’s early exit drops him to fourth on a distant 63 points.