Red-hot Moto2: double red flags and a Spanish duel, Gonzalez edges Guevara in 7 laps

Manuel Gonzalez’s first roar over Izan Guevara in the mini-race after two red-flag incidents. Report and standings.

Two red flags for crashes before the victory of a blazing Manuel Gonzalez, overpowering a combative Izan Guevara. Have we already found the season’s main duelists? Time will tell, but it was certainly a rather eventful first Moto2 race, with two incidents shaping the course of this opening round. Despite the hair-raising dynamics, the riders are relatively okay, though any potential injuries are still being assessed. Meanwhile, as in Moto3, it was a tight Spanish-dominated battle, with Collin Veijer 5th as the best of the “others,” ahead of Celestino Vietti in 6th, unfortunately never close to the podium zone... The report from the first Grand Prix of the 2026 World Championship.

We get underway with Senna Agius on his first category pole, with Guevara and Holgado on the front row, Vietti 5th and last year’s runner-up Gonzalez in 7th. Lights out, Guevara outsmarts everyone off the line before a mistake at Turn 1 costs him three positions... Holgado, Ortola and Agius go through, Vietti is 7th, while the races of rookie Piqueras and Aji both end on lap two. However, there’s a very nasty incident involving Alonso, Salac and Agius: Alonso highsides and falls on the racing line, Salac, right behind, can’t avoid him and hits him, and in the ricochet they slam into Agius ahead of them, who already had his hand raised to signal an issue with his KALEX.

The red flag follows on lap 4 of 22, everyone back to the pits; they will restart from the positions at the end of lap 3 (except Agius and Salac, who will start from the pit lane), while Alonso is at the medical center with arm pain. Riders and teams take the chance to change tires, heading back out on fresh rubber after the quick-restart procedure. Holgado, Guevara and Ortola take command, further back a contact between Garcia and Lunetta puts both out of the race. But a second red flag is shown due to this new incident, this time after two laps.

Riders return to the pits again, while the aching crash victims are carried away on stretchers. Another quick restart will follow, using the positions from the first restart, and it’s now a sprint race, reduced to 7 laps. Holgado nails the launch again, but Guevara strikes shortly after and takes the lead. Gonzalez and Ortola follow, forming a quartet that immediately opens a small gap to the rest. Soon after, Roberts slides out, with Rueda and Van den Goorbergh also down, all without consequences. Up front the battle heats up: the four have escaped, but the main protagonists are Manuel Gonzalez and Izan Guevara. The Pramac Yamaha rider leads for a long spell, with his rival studying him carefully before launching the attack near the end. The last lap is a desperate search for an answer from #28, with a few “around the outside” attempts, but the Intact GP rider brilliantly shuts every door and takes the first win of the year. After the end of 2025, it’s exactly the start he wanted! Guevara gives both his team and Boscoscuro reasons to smile, with Daniel Holgado finishing third.