Moto2: Celestino Vietti aims for the title, but what’s still lacking?

The summer break offers a chance to draw some conclusions about what is becoming a rather unusual Moto2 season, with no single dominant force. In recent years, we’ve often seen just a couple of riders dominate proceedings, like last season for example, when Remy Gardner and Raul Fernandez raised the bar to such a level that they became almost immediately unstoppable. This year there is no one matador as yet, as proved by the fact that, of the 11 races run so far, Vietti and Fernandez have won three apiece, while Acosta, Chantra, Roberts, Arbolino and Ogura have all triumphed once.

Vietti: the leading Italian light in Moto2

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The rider who has stood out most overall is Celestino Vietti, winner of the inaugural race in Qatar, as well as the Argentina and Barcelona races, the latter perhaps the standout victory in his career to date. The growth path he embarked upon last year is clearly bearing fruit, to the point that he now leads the championship. His title ambitions are clear, the Italian having definitively taken up the baton from riders like Morbidelli, Bagnaia, Bastianini, Marini and Bezzecchi as the Italian rider of reference in the intermediate class.

Vietti seems to be getting on well in this new ‘role’, having demonstrated both his riding abilities and his racing flair, something that’s not gone unnoticed by MotoGP teams, which are beginning to consider him for next season (although right now it looks like he might spend one more year in Moto2). Nevertheless, there are still a few details to iron out for the Team Mooney rider who, at the start of the year, looked as if he might dominate, but who has actually started to experience some ups and downs.

Qualifying, the weak point

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Vietti is what we might call "a race animal", more than able to unleash his full potential on Sunday, but the same can’t be said of his qualifying sessions. And this dynamic can cause problems for the Italian, who is forced to play catch up in the race and is perhaps denied the opportunity of fighting for the win as a result. Celestino faces two obstacles right now – qualifying and his level of explosiveness. Despite two pole positions, Vietti has often been unable to put it all together in qualifying, which has meant the races begin with an uphill climb, the recent Assen GP a case in point, the Italian ultimately able to recover as far as fourth.

If he hadn’t spent the first half of the race playing catch-up, he’d have been in with a chance of the win. If we analyse Vietti as a rider, we can say he’s consistent but sometimes lacking that decisive ‘leap’, that ability to prove that he is undeniably the best, the guy that can "slay the championship". He has the potential though, in fact he probably ranks at the very top in terms of talent (along with Pedro Acosta and Fermin Aldeguer).

Translated by Heather Watson

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