Pons Racing’s Lorenzo Baldassarri bagged his second-ever Moto2 win the Jerez MotoGP round, leading from lap three and crossing the line with a two-second margin over Miguel Oliveira who came from 14th on the grid to stand on the podium.
Baldassarri started from pole but dropped behind Alex Marquez and Pecco Bagnaia but was back to the front two laps later and, despite the best efforts of Oliveira, gradually pulled away until the Portugese surrendered and left the Italian to it. Baldassarri took the gentleman’s set with pole, win and a new lap record.
Bagnaia took third place after Marquez crashed out, losing the front at turn two with 13 laps left to run. Xavi Vierge, widely tipped to move to MotoGP in 2019 on the second Tech3 KTM, finished in fourth but made Bagnaia work for it as he closed to within half a second in the final three laps. Mattia Pasini took fifth place.
It was another tough day for Britain’s Sam Lowes who slipped from eighth to 11th on lap one. The Swiss KTM man fought his way back to seventh but lost out to Marcel Schrotter - riding with torn ligaments in his shoulder after a crash at Austin. Former Moto3 world champ Brad Binder ended in sixth place.
Lowes’ team-mate Iker Lecuona ended two seconds behind the Isle of Man resident in ninth with Fabio Quartararo heading Joan Mir - riding with a vicious stomach bug, for tenth.
Danny Kent crashed out with 14 left to go.
