MotoGP Jerez: Moto2 race preview

After some huge drama last time out, Celestino Vietti sits clear at the top of the Moto2 standings – and Canet arrives at Jerez looking to ride through the pain barrier.

It was a seismic moment when a number of the lead intermediate class riders crashed out in Portugal, and as the paddock heads for the Gran Premio Red Bull de España there is plenty to talk about. The biggest news in the standings was the advantage gained by Mooney VR46’s Vietti, as the Italian mixed skill and a little lady luck to take home a valuable 20 points, with many of those who did fall now on the back foot to cut the gap back down – not least of all home hero Aron Canet (Flexbox HP 40). So that’s a good place to start.

From the Vietti side, 20 points and a 0 for many key rivals was a coup, but the Italian may also be heading in a little disillusioned with his speed before the restart. The number 13 not having shown his early, seemingly effortless pace either at COTA or in Portimão. So can that change? Canet, for his part, will be hoping not as the Spaniard arrives from surgery but looking to race. Some pins in his wrist and a steadfast determination to keep pushing for those podiums, and that first win, see the Spaniard facing a pain barrier but knowing, before the multi-rider incident, he absolutely did have the speed. Turning up only a few days on also points towards Canet feeling this is a Championship fight more than ever…

Some fellow perennial frontrunners like Elf Marc VDS’s Tony Arbolino and Sam Lowes, Idemitsu Honda Team Asia’s Ai Ogura and Somkiat Chantra, Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Augusto Fernandez and American Racing’s Cameron Beaubier were also caught up in the crash, and they’ll be looking to push. Lowes has won at the track before too, and