Fermin Aldeguer has swept to his second career Moto2 victory with a dominant performance in the Thailand Moto2 at Buriram, forcing Pedro Acosta to wait for his coronation as World Champion.

The in-form SpeedUp Racing rider was in devastating form as he turned a second successive pole position into a clear victory over Acosta, his first achieved in the dry following his win in sodden conditions at Silverstone earlier in the year.

Acosta brought it home in a lonely second place to extend his margin over Tony Arbolino, who to his credit mitigated the margin to his rival with a charge to fourth place.

Needing an extra 19 points over Arbolino to be confirmed as the 2023 Moto2 World Champion meant it was always likely to be a tall ask for Acosta to do what he needed around the Chang International Circuit.

His task was made all the more difficult by the steadfast Aldeguer holding onto the advantage from pole position after getting the hole-shot before swiftly getting the hammer down to establish a margin over Acosta that at one stage exceeded more than three seconds.

Though the Red Bull KTM Ajo rider was able to claw back some margin in the closing stages, Aldeguer would not be denied, the Spaniard’s third straight podium hauling him up to a new peak of sixth in the overall standings.

Acosta trailed home in second to at least put one hand on the 2023 Moto2 title, the Spaniard adding another seven points over fourth place Arbolino in the standings, the pair now split by 63 points heading to Malaysia. It means Arbolino will need to out-score Acosta by ten points in Sepang to keep his title hopes alive into the penultimate round.

Behind the Spanish 1-2, Somkiat Chantra delighted the home fans with a very satisfying run to third place on the Honda Team Asia machine, a result that lifts him into contention for third in the overall standings at the expense of Jake Dixon, who crashed out heavily when he tagged Celestino Vietti, and Aron Canet, whose race was ruined by a double long lap penalty for jumping the start.

Arbolino recovered from a sloppy opening few laps to claw his way back up to fourth place, the Italian finishing ahead of Ai Ogura, who stormed up from 19th on the grid to collect a top five finish from Marcos Ramirez, who ended up sixth having run as high as third early on.

Front row starter Albert Arenas settled for seventh, ahead of Alonso Lopez and 2022 Moto3 World Champion Izan Guevara, while Manuel Gonzalez completed the top ten.

A recovering Canet brought it home for 11th, with Dennis Foggia, Jeremy Alcoba, Sam Lowes and Darryn Binder completed the points’ down to 15th.