Agius rues rear grip issues after gritty Hungary podium

Senna Agius lands third Moto2 podium of the season, as Joel Kelso scores Moto3 points despite a difficult weekend

Moto2

Manuel Gonzalez continued his commanding Moto2 campaign at Balaton Park, taking a third consecutive victory and becoming the first rider since Fermin Aldeguer in 2023 to win three in a row in the class. The Liqui Moly Dynavolt Intact GP rider had to work for it, with Filip Salač staying in the fight for much of the contest before securing second, his first podium since 2024. After narrowly beating Gonzalez in qualifying to secure third on the grid, Agius lost a position off the line but from lap two onward was the only rider able to stay with the lead pair. He spent the race trying to close the gap while also managing the pressure from Alonso behind, and in doing so strengthened his grip on fourth in the title standings with 94 points.

Salač made the best launch from the front row and took the holeshot from Izan Guevara, while Gonzalez immediately moved into third and then quickly displaced his title rival for second. Guevara’s opening laps only got worse as Agius and then Daniel Holgado also found a way through, pushing him back to fifth.

The race turned further on lap four when Ivan Ortola and Daniel Muñoz, battling for a place inside the top 10, came together and crashed at Turn 3. At around the same time, Guevara was handed a Long Lap penalty for an unsafe change of direction at the start. Although he had recovered a place by then, his penalty ensured his race became one of damage control.

Another key moment came on lap seven when Collin Veijer crashed from seventh at Turn 5 while following the Aspar riders. Guevara emerged from his Long Lap in sixth and more than four seconds off the lead.

At the front, Salač led the opening half of the race before Gonzalez made his move on lap 12 at Turn 9. From there, the championship leader gradually edged away. Salač remained close and continued to answer, but Gonzalez repeatedly found more pace, including a 1:40.932 personal best and then the fastest lap of the race to keep his rival at arm’s length.

By the final laps Gonzalez had broken the challenge, stretching the margin to 1.6 seconds by the chequered flag. Salač’s second place gave him a timely return to the podium ahead of Brno, while Agius did enough to fend off David Alonso for third. Just 0.4 seconds separated Agius and Alonso at the finish, with Holgado in fifth and Guevara crossing the line in sixth.

The result sees Gonzalez extend his title advantage over Guevara to 49.5 points. Celestino Vietti climbed from 12th on the grid to seventh and now sits 52.5 points behind the championship leader. Alonso Lopez finished eighth, Alberto Ferrandez claimed a personal best Moto2 result in ninth, and Tony Arbolino rounded out the top 10.

There was more encouragement further down the order, with rookies Jose Antonio Rueda and Taiyo Furusato recording their best Moto2 finishes so far in 11th and 14th respectively.

Making his Moto2 World Championship race debut, Jacob Roulstone brought his machine home in 22nd place after using the Balaton Park contest as a valuable learning exercise on what he described as a particularly challenging circuit on which to begin adapting to the bike.

In the Moto2 World Championship chase, Gonzalez now leads on 154.5 points, extending his advantage over second-placed Izan Guevara, who sits on 105. Celestino Vietti remains third with 102 points, while Agius holds fourth on 94 after his latest podium. Daniel Holgado completes the top five on 76 points as the series heads next to Brno.

Senna Agius
“Of course I’m very happy to be on the podium! At this stage of the season, it’s absolutely vital to be consistent, and I see this as a sort of redemption for last weekend, when I felt I deserved third place. It’s always nice to be back on the podium, so a big thank you to my team. They’ve done a fantastic job, because you may not forget that this was my first race weekend here at the Balaton Park Circuit. They really kept me calm from Thursday onwards. We did our work during practice to get to know the track and build up speed, and we managed both of those things well. It’s true, when I was chasing Fillip and Manu throughout the race, I was so close and wanted to attack, but I didn’t have enough to do so. Anyway, I felt a bit better on the bike, although the grip conditions today, for example, didn’t give me the best feeling. It’s all about learning, and we’ll analyse what we can do better next time. I feel completely at ease and have complete faith in our way of working. The bike feels really good. So, we just need to enjoy this moment, stay calm and work hard to carry on like this in the middle of the season and put ourselves in the best possible position for the end. I’m really proud and happy to be back on the podium. From the very first lap, I had no grip on the rear tyre to catch up with Manu and Filip. Let’s just say the conditions were different today. It was hot, of course, but as far as grip was concerned, I’d expected to have a bit more of an advantage with the rear tyre to keep up with them. So, I played it safe in the final laps to secure third place, which is an important result for the championship. Many thanks to everyone for this fantastic weekend – I’m already looking forward to Brno, where the track’s layout is more fast and flowing and more enjoyable to ride than here.”

2026 Hungary Moto2 Race

2026 Moto2 Championship Standings

Moto3

Maximo Quiles returned to the top step in Moto3 with victory at Balaton Park, making it back to back Hungarian wins and extending his championship lead in the process. The CFMOTO Gaviota Aspar Team rider took control once he hit the front and this time there was no need for a late duel. David Almansa, who started from pole, finished second for his first podium since Buriram, while Alvaro Carpe stormed from the sixth row to complete the podium in third.

Almansa made the perfect launch and led the opening lap from Quiles, but the race was quickly interrupted by several incidents further back. Guido Pini crashed at Turn 2 after contact with Matteo Bertelle and was thrown into the path of Joel Esteban. Then at Turn 5, Ruche Moodley hit Hakim Danish, ending Moodley’s race and forcing Danish to rejoin through pitlane.

Once the race settled, Almansa and Quiles established themselves at the front. Perrone and Rico Salmela initially held third and fourth, with Salmela moving into third on lap four and trying to chase down the leaders. The key move for victory came on lap seven when Quiles struck at Turn 9. He then underlined his pace with the fastest lap of the race, a 1:45.872, while Almansa lost ground after an error at Turn 5.

As the laps ticked down, Quiles gradually stretched the gap. Almansa continued to push, but by the final five laps the championship leader had more than a second in hand. The battle for third was far more chaotic, with Carpe charging from 18th on the grid into contention in a large group also featuring Brian Uriarte, David Muñoz and Perrone.

That fight erupted on the final lap when contact between Carpe and Muñoz on the exit of Turn 11 triggered a multi rider crash involving Muñoz, Perrone and Uriarte. The red flag was shown with little more than half a lap remaining. Muñoz was taken to a local hospital, and his team later confirmed he had suffered fractures to his pelvis and was undergoing surgery on Sunday evening.

The result was declared with Quiles the winner from Almansa, while Carpe held onto third. Uriarte was classified fourth and Salmela took a career best fifth, also delivering Finland’s best Moto3 finish since Niklas Ajo was fifth at Mugello in 2014. Adrian Cruces finished sixth ahead of Marco Morelli, top Honda rider Jesus Rios, Casey O’Gorman and Adrian Fernandez.

Joel Kelso was in the top 5 in friday practice but couldn’t make gains in qualifying, ending up 10th on the grid. He was pushed back in the early laps and became embroiled in a tight midfield contest, eventually fighting his way through to finish 12th and score points.

Joel Kelso
“It was quite a difficult one, but we knew that coming into this weekend. I think it was a bit of a salvage job this weekend to get some points on the board and understand the bike a little bit more. We made a small change and I felt a little bit better. We know the issues that we need to work through, so let’s keep chipping away. We think there was more on the table, but it’s still been two positive back-to-back weekends”

2026 HUNGARY MOTO3 RACE

2026 MOTO3 CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS