The Triumph powered Moto2 grid headed to Thailand for the second race in a triple header. Ai Ogura had his second opportunity to secure the Moto2 World Championship this weekend and he meant business, setting a new all-time lap record of 1m 34.595 and qualifying on pole position for just the second time this season. Aron Canet would line up next to him in second with rookie Diogo Moreira in third.

There was a heavy but short shower just before the race got underway on Sunday (27 October), the unpredictability making for tricky conditions. Ogura got a great start but Canet quickly took the lead. Moreira briefly hit the front before Canet and Ogura got back through. There was drama behind them as Fermin Aldeguer crashed out taking Tony Arbolino with him.

Alonso Lopez and Moreira were side by side with Ogura trying to get through, running the Japanese rider wide and allowing Marcos Ramirez, Jake Dixon and Darryn Binder through, pushing Ogura back to seventh. Binder had come from 16th on the grid to sixth but his excellent start didn’t translate to points as he crashed out shortly after.

After a chaotic first three laps, things started to settle with Canet leading from Ramirez, Dixon, Moreira and Ogura. With Canet leading, Ogura needed to finish fifth or better to wrap up the championship but he wanted to win in style. He got his head down, set a new race lap record of 1m 35.597 and started picking his way through towards the sharp end. Canet and Ramirez had started to pull away until Ogura passed Moreira and closed the gap to Ramirez before passing him into second.

Home hero Somkiat Chantra made his return to racing after he missed the last few rounds through injury. He had qualified 13th on the grid but was carving his way through the field to the sound of the Thai fans cheering him on. He had made his way up to a fantastic fourth when the rain began to fall again and the race was red flagged due to the conditions. There were just two laps remaining and so a result was called.

Aron Canet’s excellent run of form continues and he took his third Moto2 win from Ogura who’s second place in the race was enough for him to be crowned the first Japanese World Champion in 15 years.

Ramirez took the final podium place for his second Moto2 rostrum. Chantra was fourth ahead of Moreira who rounded out the top five.

Moto2 heads straight to Malaysia next weekend, 1 - 3 November for the penultimate round.

Triumph Triple Trophy

Triumph and MotoGP announced a new format for the Triumph Triple Trophy for 2024, where the winner will take home a Street Triple 765 RS prize bike at the end of the season.

This year, a judging panel picks a short list of three standout riders which will be published on MotoGP’s Instagram stories. Fans can then vote for their favourite.

The points awarded are in reference to Triumph’s 765cc engine:

• 7 points for the rider with most fan votes
• 6 points for the rider with second most fan votes
• 5 points for the rider with third most fan votes

This week’s shortlist is:

• Aron Canet who was fast all weekend and had a flawless ride to victory.
• Ai Ogura for a near perfect weekend scoring the new all-time lap record, race-lap record, second in the race and of course, winning the Championship.
• Somkiat Chantra for riding through the pain in his first race back after injury to go from 13th on the grid to 4th in front of his home fans.

Look out for the Instagram stories on MotoGP’s official Instagram account @motogp to vote for your favourite.