Jesus Gutierrez
portimao
Sunday, March 26, 2023, 1:08 p.m.
In his second year in Moto2, Pedro Acosta is the rider to watch in the intermediate category. After a debut in Moto2 marked by a fracture in the femur that conditioned his evolution, he still had time to show his immense talent with three very dominant victories, including the last of the year, which only confirmed his poster of favorite in 2023, although it needed to be ratified on the track. And the Murcian did it at the first opportunity.
The Portimao circuit is a ‘friendly’ track for him. He won in 2021 with Moto3 and during the winter he had already been the fastest in the pre-season tests. Throughout the weekend he had been very consistent in the top positions, but he had not led either Friday or Saturday practice. And he had a very strong competitor in the figure of Arón Canet.
The Valencian aims to be the other great Spanish candidate for the Moto2 title and since the first Grand Prix of the year he has already shown signs that Acosta is going to have to sweat to win the title. Canet started better than his rival and in the first lap he was in front of the race. The lead only lasted one turn, which it took for the Murcian to overtake him and impose his own pace. An Acosta rhythm that broke the group but caught Canet from behind, who throughout the race stuck to the tail of his rival and studied him at every turn. It seemed that the Valencian had a bullet ready for the end, but instead of him came the attack of the Shark on the penultimate lap, with a change of pace that his rival could not follow and allowed him to cross the finish line alone. Acosta won the first battle against Canet, in a duel that will be repeated a lot this year.
Behind, Italian Tony Arbolino accompanied the Spanish duo on the podium, ahead of Czech polesitter Filip Salac and Manu González from Madrid, fifth in the first race of the year. Four other Spaniards finished on the podium: Albert Arenas (8th), Jeremy Alcoba (10th), Fermín Aldeguer (13th) and Sergio García (15th), in his first race in the intermediate category.
