Italtrans Racing’s Joe Roberts finished eighth in today’s Red Bull Grand Prix of Spain with the Californian narrowly missing out on seventh place the weekend after his first Moto2 victory in Portugal. American Racing’s Cameron Beaubier, meanwhile, dropped out with mechanical problems early in the 23-lap race with his teammate Sean Dylan Kelly racing to 22nd.
Today’s Grand Prix was won by Japan’s Ai Ogura, the IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia rider taking his first career GP victory. Ogura topped Flexbox HP40’s Aaron Canet by 2.5 seconds with Elf Marc VDS Racing team’s Tony Arbolino finishing third.
World Championship points leader Celestino Vietti finished sixth in Jerez and is now 19 points ahead of Ogura. Roberts is fifth in the Moto2 World Championship, 43 points behind Vietti, and Beaubier, who had his third non-finish in a row today, has dropped to 18th.
“I am a bit disappointed with today’s result,” Roberts said in a team release. “I felt we had a good pace and could fight for the top positions. We need to understand why we are struggling in warmer conditions. I still got some valuable points for the championship. Now we are already thinking about the next challenge at Le Mans, one of my favorite tracks.”
