After his victory in Qatar, it took Pol Esapargaro another four rounds to return to his winning ways with a superb win in today’s Moto2 race at Catalunya (the Espargaro brothers live just a stone’s throw from the track) against his Tuenti Pons team mate Esteve ‘Tito’ Rabat.
For awhile it seemed that we would see a repeat Valentino Rossi’s and Jorge Lorenzo’s thrilling 2009 race at the Spanish circuit, with another pair of team mates pitted against each other another last lap rivalry, but Rabat’s determination could do nothing against his worn out tires that had sent him several warning signals, and he would finish 0.
081s adrift from Espargaro, while Thomas Luthi would finish a very, very distant third.
The race itself was rather unexciting for Moto2, as polesitter Espargaro got the holeshot and lead the race for the first thirteens laps and then let his team mate take the lead for a few laps, while he rested only to easily pass Rabat to take the lead with and hold it to the finish line, even if Rabat in an immense last lunge tried to line him up on the last turn, but wasn’t close enough to slipstream him on the straight.
Luthi would finish more than six seconds adrift, while Scott Redding was fourth after battling with him only to lose contact not only with the two front runners, but also the Swiss rider.
Takaaki Nakagami finished fifth after his battle with Randy Krummenacher.
Johann Zarco was 7th ahead of Mika Kallio while Simone Corse beat his NGM Forward team mate Mattia Pasini for the tenth spot.
2013 Moto2 Catalunya results:01- Pol Espargaro – Tuenti HP 40 – KALEX Moto2 – 23 laps in 41’17.
307 02- Tito Rabat – Tuenti HP 40 – KALEX Moto2 – + 0.
081 03- Thomas Luthi – Interwetten Paddock Moto2 Racing – Suter MMX2 – + 6.
264 04- Scott Redding – Marc VDS Racing Team – KALEX Moto2 – + 9.
061 05- Takaaki Nakagami – Italtrans Racing Team – KALEX Moto2 – + 10.
597 06- Randy Krummenacher – Technomag carXpert – Suter MMX2 – + 11.
577 07- Johann Zarco – CAME Iodaracing Project – Suter MMX2 – + 15.
569 08- Dominique Aegerter – Technomag carXpert – Suter MMX2 – + 28.
280 09- Mika Kallio – Marc VDS Racing Team – KALEX Moto2 – + 28.
352 10- Simone Corsi – NGM Mobile Racing – Speed Up SF13 – + 28.
461 11- Mattia Pasini – NGM Mobile Racing – Speed Up SF13 – + 28.
892 12- Mike Di Meglio – JiR Moto2 – MotoBI – + 31.
215 13- Danny Kent – Tech 3 Racing – Tech 3 Mistral 610 – + 31.
318 14- Axel Pons – Tuenti HP 40 – KALEX Moto2 – + 31.
757 15- Julian Simon – Italtrans Racing Team – KALEX Moto2 – + 33.
190 16- Nico Terol – MAPFRE Aspar Team Moto2 – Suter MMX2 – + 34.
092 17- Kyle Smith – Blusens Avintia – KALEX Moto2 – + 44.
392 18- Hafizh Syahrin – Petronas Raceline Malaysia – KALEX Moto2 – + 48.
517 19- Dani Rivas – TSR Motorsports – KALEX Moto2 – + 48.
563 20- Yuki Takahashi – IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia – Moriwaki MD600 – + 48.
719 21- Alberto Moncayo – Argiñano & Gines Racing – Speed Up SF13 – + 53.
765 22- Doni Tata Pradita – Federal Oil Gresini Moto2 – Suter MMX2 – + 1’13.
330 23- Ricky Cardus – NGM Mobile Forward Racing – Speed Up SF13 – + 1’21.
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