Arbolino claims third win of season amidst early drama in Malaysian GP

SEPANG: Elf Marc VDS Racing Team rider Tony Arbolino claimed his third Moto2 win of the season at the 2022 Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix which was marred by an early crash at the Sepang International Circuit (SIC) here today.

The 22-year-old Italian who started from the second position, blazed the track to be the first to cross the finish line with a time of 38 minutes and 25.233 seconds (s).

Spain's Alonso Lopez of Beta Tools Speed Up came in second, 11.411s adrift while Inde GASGAS Aspar Team's Jake Dixon of Great Britain finished in third place, 11.802s behind.

Coming into this penultimate race of the season, IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia rider Ai Ogura's wish to strengthen his grip at the top of the championship standings was dashed after he crashed out of the race in his attempt to take the lead against Arbolino.

The 21-year-old Japanese rider dropped to second place in the standings with 242 points (pts) while Spain's Augusto Fernandez of Red Bull Ktm Ajo took the lead with 251.5 pts after finishing the race in fourth place with a time of 38:38.439s.

Malaysian wildcard riders, Kasma Daniel Kasmayudin and Azroy Hakeem Anuar of Petronas MIE Racing RW completed the race in 19th and 22nd place, respectively.

Earlier, there was an accident involving five riders including Red Bull KTM Ajo Pedro Acosta of Spain and Thailand's Somkiat Chantra of IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia during the first lap of the race.

-- BERNAMA