Izan Guevara reigns supreme in Japan to reignite title battle after Gonzalez blunder

Izan Guevara clinched his second consecutive victory and third of the Moto2 season with an authoritative ride at the Japanese Grand Prix in Motegi.

The Pramac rider took full advantage of a major blunder by championship leader Manuel Gonzalez. Gonzalez was set to line up third on the grid behind Guevara and Filip Salac, but stalled his bike at the conclusion of the warm-up lap. Forced into a pit-lane start, he lost nearly 30 seconds while his Intact GP crew worked to get the machine fired back up.

Once he joined the race, Gonzalez displayed blistering pace, but it was only enough to recover to 22nd place at the chequered flag. The result handed the Spaniard his first non-score of the season, with his previous worst finish being a 14th place at Silverstone, where he led before mistakenly thinking the race had finished a lap early.

Meanwhile, Guevara led virtually from lights to flag in the Land of the Rising Sun to seal a well-deserved triumph. Tony Arbolino tracked Guevara closely for the majority of the 19-lap encounter, though he managed just a single attempt to overtake.

That move came on the brakes into the sharp Turn 9 on lap 17, but it failed to pay off. The Italian braked heavily and briefly edged ahead, but carried too much speed into the apex and drifted wide, allowing Guevara to comfortably reclaim the lead on the exit.

Back in control, Guevara upped his pace over the final two laps to take the win by 0.419 seconds ahead of Arbolino. Filip Salac rounded out the Motegi podium, closing the gap to Arbolino in the wake of the failed overtake but unable to capitalize and snatch second.

Ivan Ortola and David Alonso finished fourth and fifth, leading Celestino Vietti, Deniz Oncu, Dani Holgado, Alonso Lopez, and Jose Antonio Rueda, who completed the top 10. The remaining points in Japan went to Adrian Huertas, Dani Munoz, Senna Agius, Ayumu Sasaki, and Zonta van den Goorbergh.

In the overall standings, Gonzalez holds on to the lead with 245.5 points with six rounds remaining, but his advantage over Guevara has been slashed to just 10.5 points—down from 47.5 only two races ago. Ortola sits third, 64 points off the top.

The 2026 Moto2 season resumes next week with the Indonesian Grand Prix at the Mandalika Circuit on Lombok island.