As usual Moto2 always offers some very good racing and today at the Mugello it was even better than usual, because it was spectacularly close with Marc Marquez holding off championship leader Stefan Bradl by just 0.
071s in a flying lap under the chequered flag.
The reigning 125cc world champion took his third Moto2 race victory and second consecutive one in what became a five way fight for the podium, with Bradley Smith and Alex de Angelis and hard charging Andrea Iannone coming from 14th on the grid all mixing it up, until the Sanmarinese and Italian started to fade in the final laps.
Marquez lead from the start, but Smith was hard on his tail with the rest of the field trailing as Bradl began to push after getting stuck in seventh, but the German took the lead from Marquez halfway through the race, but the Spaniard wasn’t giving up and grabbed the lead again from Bradl with Smith finding himself between the CatalunyaCaixa rider and the Keifer Kalez rider when the last lap was shown on the boards.
Bradl disposed of Smith at the San Donato and was right on top of Marquez on the final turn and despite all his best efforts couldn’t get past him, giving the young Spaniard another victory and slightly shortening Bradl’s lead in the standings.
Smith took the third spot on the podium just 0.
419sec behind the duo, taking his third consecutive podium, while Alex de Angelis was fourth in one his best races of the season, followed by Iannone who still has to improve his qualifying positions and starts.
There was also an impressive battle for the sixth spot with Thomas Luthi getting the better of Simone Corsi and they were followed by former Superbike rider Max Neukirchner who took his his best Moto2 result on the MZ this season.
Aleix Espargaro and Kenan Sofuoglu closed out the top ten.
Moto2 Mugello results:01- Marc Marquez – Team Catalunya Caixa Repsol – Suter MMXI – 21 laps in 40’02.
94102- Stefan Bradl – Viessmann Kiefer Racing – KALEX Moto2 – + 0.
07103- Bradley Smith – Tech 3 Racing – Tech 3 Mistral 610 – + 0.
41904- Alex De Angelis – JiR Moto2 – MotoBI – + 2.
09105- Andrea Iannone – Speed Master Team – Suter MMXI – + 4.
59506- Thomas Luthi – Interwetten Paddock Moto2 – Suter MMXI – + 13.
02107- Simone Corsi – Ioda Racing Project – FTR Moto M211 – + 13.
09208- Max Neukirchner – MZ Racing Team – FTR Moto M210 – + 13.
40909- Aleix Espargaro – Pons HP 40 – KALEX Moto2 – + 14.
13910- Kenan Sofuoglu – Technomag CIP – Suter MMXI – + 14.
41911- Dominique Aegerter – Technomag CIP – Suter MMXI – + 15.
07212- Xavier Simeon – RTL Sport Team – Tech 3 Mistral 610 – + 17.
99613- Randy Krummenacher – GP Team Switzerland – KALEX Moto2 – + 18.
57314- Yuki Takahashi – Gresini Racing Moto2 – Moriwaki MD600 – + 19.
72015- Jules Cluzel – NGM Forward Racing – Suter MMXI – + 20.
35716- Tito Rabat – Blusens STX – FTR Moto M211 – + 22.
20817- Mika Kallio – Marc VDS Racing Team – Suter MMXI – + 22.
42018- Valentin Debise – Speed Up – Speed Up S-11 – + 24.
29719- Jordi Torres – Mapfre Aspar Team – Suter MMXI – + 28.
67920- Mattia Pasini – Ioda Racing Project – FTR Moto M211 – + 28.
87621- Anthony West – MZ Racing Team – FTR Moto M211 – + 30.
77822- Ricky Cardus – QMMF Racing Team – Moriwaki MD600 – + 33.
08423- Claudio Corti – Italtrans Racing Team – Suter MMXI – + 34.
56824- Mike Di Meglio – Tech 3 Racing – Tech 3 Mistral 610 – + 36.
00025- Carmelo Morales – Desguaces La Torre G22 – Moriwaki MD600 – + 36.
19426- Robertino Pietri – Italtrans Racing Team – Suter MMXI – + 36.
19527- Scott Redding – Marc VDS Racing Team – Suter MMXI – + 46.
73128- Pol Espargaro – HP Tuenti Speed Up – Speed Up S-11 – + 49.
05429- Kenny Noyes – Avintia STX – FTR Moto M211 – + 50.
10130- Santiago Hernandez – SAG Team – FTR Moto M211 – + 1’08.
55731- Mashel Al Naimi – QMMF Racing Team – Moriwaki MD600 – 1 lapDNF:Ratthapark Wilairot SAG FTR 14 lapsAlex Baldolini Forward Suter 11 lapsMattia Tarozzi Faenza Suter 11 lapsYonny Hernandez Blusens FTR 7 lapsTommaso Lorenzetti Castello FTR 6 lapsMichele Pirro Gresini Moriwaki 3 lapsRaffaele de Rosa Aspar Suter 0 laps