Jake Dixon mastered tricky conditions to win the FIM Moto2 World Championship race Sunday at Circuit of The Americas (COTA), in Austin,Texas. Riding his ELF Marc VDS Racing Team Boscoscuro on Pirelli control tires, the Brit won the 16-lap race by 4.148 seconds.
Tony Arbolino was the runner-up on his BLU CRU Pramac Yamaha Moto2 Boscoscuro.
Alonso Lopez was third with 12.685 seconds behind race winner, on his Team HDR Heidrun Boscoscuro.
American Joe Roberts finished the race 25th on his OnlyFans American Racing Team Kalex.
For the championship, Canet is 13 points behind his principal rival Dixon who has 59 points. Gonzalez is third with 45 points.
More, from a press release issued by Dorna:
Dixon dominates to go back-to-back, Gonzalez gamble fails in Austin. The #96 caps off a perfect weekend with a lights-to-flag victory in a mixed conditions Moto2 race.
P1 on Friday, pole position on Saturday, P1 on Sunday. Jake Dixon (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) was simply unstoppable at the Red Bull Grand Prix of The Americas as wet weather added an extra dose of spice to the Moto2 Grand Prix. Dixon eventually beat Tony Arbolino (BLUCRU Pramac Yamaha Moto2) by 4.1s, Alonso Lopez (Team HDR Heidrun) completed the podium in P3, as a slick tyre gamble for Manuel Gonzalez (Liqui Moly Dnavolt Intact GP) fails to pay off to see the now former title chase leader leave Austin with zero points scored.
Just as the Moto3 race ended, the skies decided to sprinkle some water over COTA to add some pre-race drama to Moto2. But with the rain not heavy, some riders decided to chance it on slick tyres for the start – including World Championship leader Gonzalez. Dixon, the polesitter and Argentina GP winner, opted for Pirelli’s wet tyres.
And it proved to be the right decision for the Brit and most of the other riders. On Lap 8, Dixon lapped Gonzalez, the Spaniard’s teammate Senna Agius and Diogo Moreira (Italtrans Racing Team), who were all struggling to keep their Triumph-powered machines on the road.
With five laps left, Dixon grew his lead to six seconds over Arbolino, with Lopez four seconds behind the Italian. That gap dropped to 5.2s on the penultimate lap, but heading onto the final lap, it grew again to 5.5s. Meanwhile, chasing teammate Lopez for the final podium spot, Celestino Vietti (Team HDR Heidrun) crashed not once, but twice. Turn 12 the first and then eager to get back into the race, Turn 13 saw Vietti go down to end his points hopes altogether.
There were no such issues for Dixon though. A mixed conditions masterclass saw the #96 clinch a second consecutive victory and with it, the Championship lead. Arbolino collected his first podium of the season, and so too did Lopez as Boscoscuros locked out the rostrum.
Aron Canet (Fantic Racing LINO SONEGO) claimed an important points haul in P4, with Izan Guevara (BLUCRU Pramac Yamaha Moto2) coming from P26 on the grid to bag a P5 – a great ride from the Spaniard. Top rookie honours went the way of Ivan Ortola (QJMOTOR – FRINSA – MSI) who secures his best Moto2 result in P6, with riding wounded Barry Baltus (Fantic Racing LINO SENOGO), Daniel Holgado (CFMOTO Power Electronics Aspar Team), Mario Aji (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia) and Collin Veijer (Red Bull KTM Ajo) rounding out the top 10 – the latter duo also putting in career-best Moto2 rides. For Aji, that’s his greatest Grand Prix result to date.
Marcos Ramirez (OnlyFans American Racing) gave the home team some points in P11, Oscar Gutierrez (QJMOTOR – FRINSA – MSI) claimed his first Moto2 top 15 while standing in for Sergio Garcia, Zonta van den Goorbergh (RW-Idrofoglia Racing GP) picked up points with a P13, reigning Moto3 World Champion David Alonso (CFMOTO Power Electronics Aspar Team) walks away from COTA with a P14 after a promising weekend, as Alex Escrig (KLINT Forward Factory Team) closed out the points scorers in P15.
A drama-filled Moto2 race in Austin ends with Dixon dominating… again. Heading to Qatar, the Briton holds a 13-point lead over Canet, with Gonzalez slipping to P3 before Round 4 gets underway.
More, from a press release issued by ELF Marc VDS Racing Team :
Jake Dixon scored a dominant lights-to-flag victory at the Circuit of the Americas in tricky wet conditions to take the lead in the World Championship, while Filip Salac’s slick tyre gamble didn’t pay off as he failed to finish.
- The third Moto2 race of 2025 put the Elf Marc VDS Racing Team under all sorts of pressure as rain started unexpectedly falling just before the start at 12:20 local time.
- With the track wet but the rain not severe, the majority of the field ran wet tyres, including Jake Dixon. Filip Salac and 5 others, gambled on slicks.
- But the rain intensified around the race start, meaning the track wasn’t ready for slick tyres until the final laps of the race.
Starting from pole position, Jake sped into an early lead, taking control of the contest from Turn 1. Aside from a scary rear slide on the 1st lap, he quickly built up an early lead. By half race distance, the 29-year old’s advantage had exceeded 4.5s. And with the track drying in the closing laps, he managed the gap to 2nd to win his 2nd race of the year by 4.1s. Jake climbs to 1st in the World Championship with 59 points to his name after leading every session this weekend. This is the 1st time the Briton has ever led the Moto2 World Championship.
“I never thought I’d have two consecutive wins in Moto2”
“Incredible race! The build-up on the grid was crazy, everything felt out of control with the rain falling. I didn’t know what was going on and felt so stressed. But I got a really good start and braked too late into Turn 1 and then nearly high-sided on lap one. So, I said to myself, ‘Calm down!’ It was crazy. It’s been a massive weekend and that’s a credit to the Elf Marc VDS Racing Team. They’ve been working with me and keeping me cool, calm and collected. I never thought I’d have two consecutive wins in Moto2 – one in the dry, one in the wet. It’s great to do it in completely different conditions. I thought it would take more time for us to be competitive this year and to be honest we are still learning and I can get more comfortable on the bike. There’s still more to come and we’re aiming to fight for the top five at every track we go to.” Jake Dixon.