2025 Argentina GP - Moto2 Race Report - Jake Dixon Claims Victory in Termas Triumph!

Round 2 of the 2025 MotoGP World Championship takes us to South America, more specifically the Termas de Rio Hondo circuit in Argentina for the aptly named Argentina Grand Prix! Coming into Round 2 of 22, Manuel González was the championship leader, having won in the opening race in Thailand, and the Spaniard took back to back poles on Saturday. Briton Jake Dixon joined González on the front row, taking a first front row on the Boscoscuro chassis, with Marcos Ramírez completing the front row. Special shoutout to Forward Racing's Álex Escrig as well, putting in a career best qualifying to start the race in P4! Other notable names were Diogo Moreira in 5th, Filip Salač in 6th, Celestino Vietti in P9 with Arón Canet starting 10th after a big crash earlier in the weekend.

Race Recap

Lights Out:

The lights went out on Sunday, and it was Jake Dixon who got the holeshot from the middle of the front row, making a move into Turn 1 to take the lead of the race from Manuel González. Filip Salač also found his way up to 3rd place on the opening lap, passing Marcos Ramírez to do so. Arón Canet was one who also got a lightning start, making up 5 places on the first lap. Unfortunately there was a crash on the opening lap, with rookie Adrian Huertas going down 2 corners into the race, and the Spaniard was unable to rejoin the race due to his visor being knocked out of his helmet, but he was OK in the end.

Early Laps:

There was an early scrap between Manuel González and Filip Salač, with the Czech rider passing González on Lap 2, however González fought back a lap later and surged on, following leader Jake Dixon to pull away from the battle for P3. Arón Canet and Marcos Ramírez also had an early scrap for P4, the two Spanish riders trading positions 4 or 5 times in the first 5 laps, with Ramírez holding on to the spot for the time being. Izan Guevara managed an early charge through the field, gaining 10 places by Lap 5, however later on in the race he'd fall back through the field like a stone in water. However he was involved in a battle for P9 between himself, Dani Holgado, Albert Arenas and Tony Arbolino, which was also quite scrappy early on. Diogo Moreira was forced to pit on Lap 6, the Brazilian rider reporting he just had no feeling on the front end. He would later rejoin the race but any realistic chance he had of scoring points was gone. Filip Salač also ran wide at the end of Lap 6, allowing Marcos Ramírez to retake the final podium position.

Mid-Race Action:

1/3 race distance was achieved on Lap 7, with Arón Canet passing Filip Salač for 4th place in the 2nd group, still lead by Ramírez in P3, with Speed Up's Celestino Vietti passing Darryn Binder at the same corner about 20 metres behind for P6. Jake Dixon had already consolidated his lead by Lap 8, with 4 consecutive fastest laps leaving the British rider half a second clear of Manuel González, a gap that would only continue to grow as the race progressed. Arón Canet also took the final podium position from Ramírez on Lap 8 as that battle continued. Salač and Ramírez kept fighting each other on Laps 10 and 11, with Salač making a move on Lap 10 at turn 5. The next lap however, drama hit as Ramírez tried to repass Salač but went a bit wide, with contact being made as Salač tried to dive back down the inside. Unfortunately this resulted in a crash for the Marc VDS rider, and some minor damage for Marcos Ramírez as his front fender was ripped apart. Ramírez dropped down to P6 but was still in the race, and the damage didn't seem to phase him as he made a move for P5 on Darryn Binder 2 laps later. Mario Aji also crashed on Lap 14 as Salač called it a day and retired.

Final Laps:

The crash between Salač and Ramírez unfortunately split the pack a touch, with the podium battle looking more like a shoot out between Celestino Vietti and Arón Canet, with Vietti making a slight error on Lap 15 which allowed Canet through, but that wasn't the end of the battle as Vietti repassed Canet on Lap 17, and that was the final overtake in that battle. Further down the field there was a 4 way battle for P8, which included all 3 chassis in the Moto2 class, which isn't something we see very often. The battle was between Tony Arbolino (Boscoscuro), Álex Escrig (Forward), Dani Holgado and Albert Arenas (Kalex), with Escrig ultimately winning out, even managing to chase down Alonso López and pass him for P7, a spectacular result in dry conditions for the Forward rider.

Final Classification

In the end, Jake Dixon managed to lead start to finish, ending up 3 and a half seconds clear of Manuel González in P2, with Celestino Vietti scoring his first points of the season in P3. Arón Canet had to settle for P4 in the end, with Marcos Ramírez recovering to P5, finishing just behind both riders ahead. Darryn Binder took a solid 6th place, with Álex Escrig putting in a career best performance to take P7. Alonso López was in 8th place, with Dani Holgado once again the top rookie with back to back top 10's in P9. Albert Arenas rounded out the top 10, with Tony Arbolino, Barry Baltus, Senna Agius, Deniz Öncü and Izan Guevara rounding out the points. The MotoGP paddock heads to America for Round 3 at the Circuit of the Americas, and it should be another exciting weekend!