THE CONTENDERS

Fermin Aldeguer

Age: 18 Team: Speed Up Racing Boscoscuro 2023 stats: 5 wins and 7 podiums

Pre-season favourite? Going off the last year’s finale, when he became only the second rider in history to win four straight Moto2 races, yes. Not even Pedro Acosta had an answer for Aldeguer’s relentlessness last autumn, as he rose from eighth to third in the championship in that final run. Rumours indicate he has signed up with Ducati for a shot at MotoGP in 2025.

Tony Arbolino

Age: 23 Team: Elf Marc VDS Racing Team Kalex 2023 Stats: 3 wins and 8 podiums

How to judge Arbolino’s 2023? Critically for bottling it in the season’s second half, or praised for consistently fighting for positions higher than he qualified? Either way, three wins and a runner-up spot were by no means a disgrace. His starts and ability to gain positions on lap one shows he possesses a rare talent. Another contender, but with weaknesses to iron out.

Ai Ogura

Age: 23 Team: MT Helmets – MSI Boscoscuro

2023 stats: 0 wins and 3 podiums

2023 was Ogura’s annus horribilis. As well as badly breaking his left wrist last February, he didn’t gel with the higher ups at Honda Team Asia, and endured a frustrating campaign, which fell well below his 2022 exploits. A change of teams (and chassis) should do him good. Gelling with the Boscoscuro chassis will take time but Ogura has backed himself to jump to MotoGP.

Celestino Vietti

Age: 22 Team: Red Bull KTM Ajo Kalex 2023 stats: 1 win and 2 podiums

Moto2’s enigma. Vietti has shown he can be untouchable on his day. But those days were few and far between in 2023, when a strong midseason run was destroyed by an errant Jeremy Alcoba in India. Now riding for Aki Ajo, responsible for winning each of the past three titles, Vietti must kick on but it may take a few rounds to get the WP suspension up to speed.

Manuel Gonzalez

Age: 21 Team: QJMOTOR Gresini Moto2 Kalex 2023 stats: 0 wins and 1 podium

Gonzalez has impressed everyone since he transitioned from World Supersport to Moto2 in 2022. Last year he kicked on, becoming a regular in the top six and finished a solid eighth overall. And breaking his podium duck at the penultimate race bodes well. A man with vast Pirelli experience, Gonzalez knows how to manage the softer rubber over race distance.

Aron Canet

Age: 24 Team: Fantic Racing Kalex 2023 stats: 0 wins and 7 podiums

The will-he-won’t-he continues. After four seasons and 68 starts, Canet has yet to break his Moto2 duck despite 15 runner-up placings. Six of those came last year, when he once again blew hot and cold. Canet has switched to Fantic Racing for the new season and has been strong through testing. But question marks remain over his ability to piece a season’s worth of results.

Alonso Lopez

Age: 22 Team: Speed Up Racing Boscoscuro 2023 stats: 0 wins and 5 podiums

Lopez arrived as a favourite to fight for the title in 2023 on the back of a stellar rookie campaign, when he won two races. But a crew chief change didn’t work out, the Spaniard was beset by arm pump issues, and the emergence of teammate Aldeguer as a force also didn’t help. But he has refreshed over the winter, has found a new crew chief and has shown flashes of form in testing.

Joe Roberts

Age: 26 Team: American Racing Team Kalex 2023 stats: 0 wins and 1 podium

Roberts returns to American Racing after three largely disappointing years at Italtrans, where he failed to gel with the largely Italian team. A combination of delight at working again with Race Director John Hopkins, being able to communicate freely with the team, and riding aboard Pirelli’s tyres has resulted in a string of surprisingly fast pre-season showings.