Guevara Leads Gonzalez and Holgado in Triumph Powered MOTO2 Race in Indonesia
Izan Guevara recorded a third-consecutive victory today, as the BLU CRU Pramac Moto2™ rider inherited the win after race-long leader Alex Escrig was forced to retire on the penultimate lap. Guevara secured the maximum points, finishing ahead of Manuel Gonzalez and Dani Holgado in Indonesia.
The Moto2™ World Championship returned to the Pertamina Mandalika International Circuit for Round 17 of the 2026 season and saw the Triumph-powered series’ title battle tighten up once more.
A record breaking pole from Guevara (1:31.963) set the scene for Sunday’s Grand Prix, which kicked off in dramatic fashion. As the lights went out, contact between Holgado and David Alonso at turn one brought both Aspar riders down and collected an unfortunate Joe Roberts and Collin Veijer on the way, resulting in a red flag at the end of the opening lap. As three laps hadn’t been completed, a race restart was called with riders starting from their original grid positions.
As the Grand Prix got back underway for a reduced 14-lap race, it was Escrig from the front row who burst into the lead, grabbing the holeshot ahead of Guevara and Holgado, who had made the restart following his original crash.
Meanwhile, as the leading quartet broke free, eyes were on the battle for fifth which was headed by Daniel Muñoz and Tony Arbolino, but had a hard-charging Gonzalez behind. The championship leader had work to do starting tenth, and had found himself up to fourth before the red flag, but wasted no time in charging forward. In three laps, the Spaniard passed both his rivals ahead and began to set his sights on Ivan Ortola in fourth.
Harnessing the power of his Triumph Street Triple 765 RS engine to quickly catch his countryman, the IntactGP star cut through at Turn 10 and began chasing down Holgado who held the final step of the rostrum. Reducing the 2.1 second gap in just two laps, he plotted his attack, passing the Aspar rider on the tenth tour of 14 laps.
As the leading duo started their penultimate lap, Guevara had cut the gap to Escrig to four tenths, the smallest it had been all race but drama struck at the end of the lap as the KLINT Forward Racing rider’s bike stopped at the exit of Turn 13, gifting the lead to Guevara, second to Gonzalez and the third place back to Holgado.
From 13th on the grid, Senna Agius found himself in fourth on the final tour of the 2.67-mile circuit and quickly caught the back of his rival ahead, but couldn’t find a way onto the podium before the conclusion of the shorter Grand Prix.
Guevara took the flag to secure a third win on the bounce with title-rival Gonzalez storming to second place. Holgado bounced back from his lap one crash to secure third in the restarted race with Agius and Muñoz rounding out the top five.
Ortola secured sixth ahead of Filip Salač, Alonso Lopez, Arbolino and Jose Antonio Rueda rounded out the top ten.
The Moto2™ World Championship has a short break before heading to Australia’s Phillip Island for the Championship’s final visit to the coast-side venue before heading to a new circuit in 2027. Gonzalez heads to Australia leading Guevara by 5.5 points as the series continues to heat up with five scheduled rounds remaining.
Triumph Triple Trophy Shortlist:
1. Manuel Gonzalez - Battling from tenth to second to claim 20 valuable points in the World Championship
2. Alex Escrig - Bursting into the lead, controlled the race and delivered a perfect ride before an issue on the penultimate lap forced him out of the Grand Prix.
3. Senna Agius - From 13th to 4th. An impressive ride through the field finishing 0.312 seconds behind Holgado at the checkered flag
Next Race:
Round 18, Australian Grand Prix, Phillip Island Circuit
