Mechanical Gremlins Cruel Agius in Thailand

Manuel Gonzalez draws first blood in chaotic double red-flagged Moto2 race

Under the boiling Thai sun at Buriram, Agius (LIQUI MOLY Kalex) lined up on pole for the first time in his career, with Holgado (CFMOTO Kalex) alongside and Guevara (BLU CRU Boscoscuro) poised to pounce.

At lights out, it was Guevara who launched best, but the early advantage didn’t last long as he ran wide on the opening lap, dragging Agius deep with him and allowing Holgado and Ortola (QJMOTOR Kalex) to sweep through. Agius briefly regrouped in third, shadowing Holgado and looking menacing into Turn 12, but couldn’t find a way past.

Guevara soon came back at Agius, the pair swapping positions before Guevara made it stick in tuen 3. Gonzalez (LIQUI MOLY Kalex) then began his march forward, picking off Agius and, as the Australian’s pace evaporated, Veijer (Red Bull Kalex) also slipped by. Then a terrifying accident took place when Agius’ bike dramatically slowed in front of Alonso (CFMOTO Kalex), causing the Spaniard to fall heavily in front of Salac (OnlyFans Kalex) who in turn had nowhere to go but over the top of the fallen rider.

With Holgado leading from Ortola and Guevara and Gonzalez closing steadily, race control eventually threw the red flag as marshals were still attending to Alonso on the track. In the aftermath, reports pointed to a technical problem for Agius—possibly an electrical issue—that appeared to rob the bike of power and trigger a chain reaction. Back in pit lane, Agius’ crew pushed his back toward back to the pit garage, swapping the ECU and checking sensors in a desperate attempt to get him back out. The stoppage also meant classification would revert to the order at the end of lap three, leaving Agius with an uphill battle to claim any points. Alonso was later diagnosed to in good health and have no broken bones after the scary incident.

Restart 1 (11 laps)

Both Agius and Salac made it back and would start from pit lane on the restart, with fresh rubber fitted across the grid. Up front, Holgado again hit the front ahead of Guevara, Ortola and Gonzalez—until chaos struck yet again. Garcia (ITALJET Kalex) crashed and took out Lunetta (SYNC Boscoscuro) at Turn 3, and the race was red-flagged a second time with both riders initially stranded where they fell. Garcia had been on his feet immediately after the incident, yet was later taken away on a stretcher. The second stoppage shortened the contest further into a flat-out sprint, and with Agius already compromised, another pit-lane start and the reduced distance effectively crushed any realistic points hopes. With the distance now down to seven laps, teams pivoted to the softest tyre choices and the lightest fuel loads they could risk. A chaotic opening round had become even more volatile—everyone wondered what could possibly happen next.

Restart 2 (7 laps)

Holgado nailed the launch again, but this time Gonzalez immediately muscled past Ortola for third behind Guevara. Roberts (OnlyFans Kalex) fell at Turn 3 but walked away, avoiding yet another stoppage. Moments later, Guevara struck—forcing his way through on Holgado to take control of what had become a seven-lap knife fight.

Incidents continued behind: Rueda (Red Bull Kalex) went down with van den Goorbergh (Momoven Kalex), while at the front Gonzalez’s threat grew by the corner. On lap two, Gonzalez carved past Holgado through the Turn 7 right-hander, a decisive, committed move that signalled he had the speed to win again at a track he was victorious at last year. By lap three he was glued to Guevara’s rear tyre, peering into Turn 12, but Guevara’s late braking on the Boscoscuro kept the door firmly shut. Lap four only intensified the pressure—Gonzalez was stronger through the flowing 6-7-8-9 sequence, yet there were few clean passing zones, and Guevara refused to blink.

As the lead duo pushed on, Holgado and Ortola began to lose touch, hovering about half a second back—close enough to capitalise if Gonzalez and Guevara started to scrap, but not close enough to interfere. Then, on lap six, Gonzalez delivered the key blow, repeating his Turn 7 strike with even more authority.

On the final lap, it all pointed to one last chance at Turn 12, but Gonzalez rode defensively to effectively shut the door early, despite Guevara enteratining ideas of riding around the outside. Gonzalez managed the finals laps flawlessly to return to winning ways at Buriram, with Guevara taking a gallant second, Holgado holding on for third and Ortola fading to fourth, sealing an all-Spanish top four. Agius, after cruel luck and repeated pit-lane starts, took 18th at the flag in an incredibly frustrating race for the New South Welshman. Veijer completed a strong ride to fifth, followed by Vietti in sixth, Lopez took seventh ahead of Munoz in eighth, with Oncu ninth and Sasaki rounding out the top ten.

Gonzalez’s is burning for redemption this season after losing a major championship advantage last year, and his performance was controlled, aggressive when required, and ruthlessly composed under pressure. Teammate Agius’ race may have been cruelled by bad luck but if he can reproduce the one lap qualifying pace he showed to take the Buriram pole, the signs are that he will undoubtedly be a major threat in coming races.

Manuel Gonzalez
“I am super happy because I think this was the hardest victory I have achieved in Moto2 so far. We had a tough weekend because yesterday was a really difficult day for us. But we managed to salvage the situation. Above all, I had to be patient and think about how and when to overtake. Our strength was the bike’s turning, and I made good use of that to overtake other riders in the tight corners. Apart from that, the heat made it very difficult to control the front wheel. That is why I am very happy with the work of the team and all the people who help me off the track, such as my family. A big thank you to everyone. So, here we go, we have secured another victory and started the season just like last year. Let’s see if we can keep it up.”

Senna Agius
“We had a mechanical problem right after the start of the race. I then did my best to push the bike back to the pits box. A big thank you to my team, who quickly fixed the problem. Unfortunately, I had to start from the pit lane and then there was another restart. I caught up as much ground as I could in the shortened distance. But in the end, we will throw this Sunday in the rubbish and start afresh in Brazil. We are taking a lot of strengths away from this weekend. So, we will quickly put this behind us, because things happened today that we could not control. I am looking forward to the next race, because my team is doing an excellent job.”

THAILAND MOTO2 RACE