Moto2 hit the track again this weekend for the Aragón Grand Prix, racing around MotorLand Aragón. Each session was packed with action as the riders looked to take victory. Izan Guevara came into the weekend with his future secured: a seat at Prima Pramac Yahama MotoGP in 2027. But ultimately, Alonso López won from pole. Here’s all the action.
Ortolá and González Shine in Practice
The Moto2 action in Aragón kicked off with 45 minutes of Free Practice 1. Here, the riders looked to test their bikes and the track. Iván Ortolá came out on pace, setting the initial benchmark. Although Manuel González briefly took the top spot, Ortolá was clearly out front by the time the chequered flag waved. A 1:50.265 saw him two tenths ahead of the field.
Practice is when riders have to be on form. With the top 14 places advancing to Q2 and the fight for pole, this session is key to having a good weekend. For most of this session, Alonso López was leading the pack and the field was incredibly close, with a single second separating the top 20 riders.
However, following on from his FP1 form, Ortolà jumped to the top and set a new all-time lap record: a 1:49.791. At the bottom of the advancing group was Taiyo Furosato. In contrast, Filip Salač was the first rider to miss out, his time 0.034 seconds slower than the Japanese rider.
Holgado started Free Practice 2 with an unusual crash. Losing the rear on entry, he slid out in Turn 10, ultimately ending up in the barriers. It isn’t common to crash at that corner, but he was able to walk away. Once the track was cleared, López set the benchmark. Shortly after, Ayumu Sasaki and Alberto Ferrández had a close moment, with the latter cutting across Sasaki, leading to brief contact.
In the final outing ahead of qualifying, the trio of González, Guevara, and Daniel Muñoz all improved the all-time lap record set on Friday. The championship leader topped the session with a 1:49.597, merely 0.005 seconds ahead of his title rival.
Roberts Leads Qualifying One
Q1 was a second chance for the riders to make their way into Q2 and fight for pole position. The start of the session saw David Alonso set the benchmark, and for the majority of the session he remained untouched.
Throughout the session, the remainder of the advancing places were fluid, with many drivers getting the hope of advancing. But, with five minutes remaining, the final run switched it all up. With times getting quicker, the race to advance was on.
Before the final attempts came through, Ferrández crashed at Turn 1, bringing out a local yellow. Fortunately, being at the back of the pack meant most drivers were unaffected by this flag. Alonso bettered his lap and became the only rider to hit a lap in the 1:49’s. However, he exceeded track limits and consequently it was invalidated.
With Alonso finishing his attempts, he became a sitting duck. First, Adrián Huertas bettered the benchmark lap, going first. Joe Roberts followed suit to go to the top. Then, Salač put in a lap good enough for P2. This saw Alonso fall down to fourth, on the cusp. Fortunately, no one found that extra pace to relegate him.
López Secures Pole
Near the start of Q2, Guevara smashed the lap record to go to provisional pole with a 1:49.584. As riders were pushing to extract everything from their bikes, Taiyo Furusato was the first to crash at Turn 7. Fortunately, he was okay.
When riders returned to track for their second run, Barry Baltus and Daniel Muñoz impeded López, leading to them being investigated. Then, another yellow flag interrupted the fast laps. This time, Sasaki was the perpetrator, losing the front of his bike and crashing in Turn 4.
By the time the yellow was cleared, there was only time for a final flying lap. López bounced back from being impeded to find something special. He lowered the lap time even further, relegating Guevara from pole position. With a lap of 1:49.405, López secured his fourth pole position, and first since since 2023.
López Returns to the Top Step
A flawless start saw Lopez defend his lead from Guevara when the race got going. Further back, whilst Alonso fell back, Ortolá was charging through the pack. Similarly, Deniz Öncü was quickly making up places.
After starting in the top ten, Álex Escrig went wide, conceding places to those around him. A few laps later saw Salač drop to last before he headed into the pits. A technical issue saw the winner of the British Grand Prix retire.
After initially falling back, Alonso was finding pace and battling with the Liqui Moly Dynavolt Intact GP duo, eventually overtaking them both to go into fifth. Despite all the battles, López was stretching his lead out front and creating a gap back to Guevara.
Although he showed pace early on, Holgado began to fall back in the closing stages. Whilst González finally overtook the driver heading to MotoGP, the championship leader then had his own moment, going wide and dropping to eighth. As he looked to recover places, Alonso overtook Collin Veijer, who then crashed into Turn 4 and created the only yellow flag of the race.
Piqueras’ struggles continued, falling down the field and heading to the pits to retire. Out front, López was keeping a steady lead as Alonso found even more pace, seeing him close in on the top two. The last two laps saw the #80 battle for second, but Guevara kept his lines perfect. Consequently, the Colombian had to settle for third.
The battle for second let López maintain his lead, and ultimately, the Spaniard took a flag-to-flag victory. Just like he took his fourth pole position, this is his fourth win in Moto2. For the first time since Qatar in 2024, the #21 returned to the top step, being victorious in Aragón.
The Results and the Top Three Have Their Say
The top ten for the Moto2 Aragón Grand Prix are as follows:
- Alonso López (ItalJet Gresini Moto2)
- Izan Guevara (Blu Cru Pramac Yamaha Moto2)
- David Alonso (CFMoto Aspar Team)
- Senna Agius (Liqui Moly Dynavolt Intact GP)
- Iván Ortolá (QJMotor – MSi)
- Manuel González (Liqui Moly Dynavolt Intact GP)
- Daniel Holgado (CFMoto Aspar Team)
- Deniz Öncü (Elf Marc VDS Racing Team)
- Álex Escrig (Klint Racing Team)
- Adrián Huertas (Italtrans Racing Team)
“It’s incredible because honestly, I didn’t expect that because I know that I have the pace to win but, you know that since two years and a half that I didn’t win a race. So for me it’s incredible.”
~ Alonso López post-race.“I’m so happy and so grateful for my team. Amazing race. This podium is too important for the championship. I closed the gap to Manuel González.”
~ Izan Guevara post-race.“I’m very happy because I had [so] much fun. This teaches me, on myself, that when I have some problems, if I am passionate, I breathe deep, I can fix it up on the weekend.”
~ David Alonso post-race.
Moto2 Leaves Aragón and Heads to San Marino
Now, the 13th round of Moto2 in 2026 is complete. Up next, the series heads to Misano for the San Marino Grand Prix. The race in Aragón saw Guevara outscore González, consequently closing the gap in the standings to 32.5 points. This is around the time that the leader started to fall back in 2025, will history repeat itself or can he fight back at the next round and retake the momentum?