Estrella Galicia’s Franco Morbidelli put in probably the ride of his career so far to fend off a charging Mattia Pasini to win the Aragon Moto2 race this afternoon even after some words of caution from team boss Michael Bartholemy.
The Italians swapped paint numerous times in the closing stages with Morbidelli desperate to claim 25 points as Luthi was out of the podium places. The Marc VDS man put a hard move on Pasini into the mini-Corkscrew on the final lap, touching Pasini at the apex, before getting enough of a gap to avoid an outbraking pass into turn 16.
The extra five points, with Luthi finishing in fourth, means Morbidelli has 21-point gap going into the Motegi round in three weeks. Oliveira was able to close down on the leading pair as the scrapped but had to settle for third place.
Luthi ran out of rear tyre as the lap chart hit single figures and was under threat from Brad Binder. The reigning Moto3 champion came from 20th on the grid to get to two-tenths behind Luthi but couldn’t find a way past, crossing the line 0.159s in arrears.
Morbidelli shot into the lead on lap one, passing poleman Miguel Oliveira and disappeared into the distance as the Portugese had Pasini, Alex Marquez and a charging Tom Luthi - who showed entirely un-Swiss aggression in the opening laps - to deal with.
Pasini then pulled it out the bag to get his head down and cut the gap, able to reach and then pass the Championship leader – but not escape. As the final lap dawned, it was wheel-to-wheel between the two, and with a little paint swapped. But Pasini couldn’t quite get close enough at the end of the back straight, and Morbidelli was able to beat him to the line. Oliveira, closing to within a tantalizing few tenths on the final lap, took third after another impressive weekend for the Portuguese rider.
Championship challenger Lüthi (CarXpert Interwetten) had a rare race off the podium, but nevertheless came home fourth for a good haul of points and some damage limitation – just beating a stunning rookie performance from Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo). Binder took his second successive top five in fifth, now gaining traction in his first year in the class after some big injury problems earlier in the year.
Jorge Navarro (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2) was another who impressed as a rookie, taking sixth and able to pull a few tenths away from veteran Italian Simone Corsi (Speed Up Racing) in the last laps. Takaaki Nakagami (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia) did the reverse to close on the Italian – and crossed the line only 0.033 off.
Sandro Cortese (Dynavolt Intact GP) had a good battle with Alex Marquez (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) until the rider from Cervera was forced to retire, and the German crossed the line in ninth to round out a good weekend. Francesco Bagnaia (Sky Racing Team VR46) completed the top ten, with the Italian getting the better of fellow rookie Fabio Quartararo (Pons HP 40).
Misano winner Dominique Aegerter (Kiefer Racing) crossed the line in twelfth, ahead of a duel for P13 between Lorenzo Baldassarri (Forward Racing Team) and Xavi Vierge (Tech 3 Racing) – with the Italian coming out on top. Stefano Manzi (Sky Racing Team VR46) locked out the points scorers.
