What an absolute beast of a race. The Qatar Airways Grand Prix of Great Britain delivered a Moto2 thriller for the ages, and rising through the absolute chaos for his very first victory was Czechia's Filip Salač riding for the OnlyFans American Racing Team.
Right from the start at Silverstone, it was a proper scrap. Polesitter Izan Guevara of the BLU CRU Pramac Yamaha Moto2 squad went side-by-side with Lopez early on before settling into the lead by Lap 2, shadowed closely by Alonso Lopez of the ITALJET Gresini Moto2 team, Ivan Ortola, Daniel Muñoz of the Italtrans Racing Team, and Daniel Holgado. Drama struck early for David Alonso of the CFMOTO Gaviota Aspar Team, who copped a Long Lap penalty for causing a crash that sent Collin Veijer of the Red Bull KTM Ajo team packing on Lap 1. Title-chasing Senna Agius of the Liqui Moly Dynavolt Intact GP garage also had a rough start, tumbling down to P19 by Lap 8 after getting picked off by Red Bull KTM Ajo's Jose Antonio Rueda.
Things really caught fire on Lap 9. Holgado used a sweet slice of slipstream down the Hangar Straight to dive up the inside of Guevara at Stowe. With six laps to go, Tony Arbolino took the lead for the first time for REDS Fantic Racing, but a brilliant ride ended in disaster when he suffered a front-end crash at the Vale chicane with just over four laps left. Guevara ran wide to avoid the wreckage, dropping 0.8s back from the new lead group.
Then came the final-lap madness. With two laps to go, World Championship leader Manuel Gonzalez of the Liqui Moly Dynavolt Intact GP team hit the front, but Holgado bit straight back. Then, crossing the line, Gonzalez made an unbelievable blunder: he started celebrating a lap early! Standing up on his footpegs, he forced Holgado into evasive action. Holgado clipped Gonzalez's exhaust pipe, damaging the championship leader's Triumph-Kalex machine and dropping him all the way from P1 to P14 at the finish.
Holgado himself nearly threw it away with a wild rear-end moment exiting Luffield, gifting a debut Moto2 podium to Alex Escrig of the KLINT Racing Team. Out front, Salač held his nerve brilliantly against Ortola, defending to the line to take the win by 0.3s. Ortola grabbed P2 for QJMOTOR – Biolec – MSI, moving up to P4 in the standings, while Escrig secured third just 0.6s away from the victory. Holgado rescued P4, and Guevara finished P5, clawing back points in the championship.
Gonzalez ultimately limped home in P14 behind Ayumu Sasaki of the Momoven Idrofoglia RW Racing Team, Joe Roberts of the OnlyFans American Racing Team, and Celestino Vietti of the GT Trevisan SpeedRS Team. Behind them, Lopez took a solid P6, with Muñoz seventh ahead of Deniz Öncü (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team), Barry Baltus (REDS Fantic Racing), and Sergio Garcia (ITALJET Gresini Moto2).
When the dust settled, Gonzalez's championship lead sits at 42.5 points, with Guevara second, Agius 61 points back in third after a rough day, and Salač now just eight points behind the championship top six. Next up is Aragon.
