MarcVDS Kalex rider Alex Marquez threw down the gauntlet to his Moto2 rivals after a second dominant victory in as many races to confirm his World Championship credentials for 2019.

Starting on the outside of the front row, the Spaniard got away with Dynavolt duo Marcel Schrotter and Tom Luthi in the early stages andvslowly picked off the German before gapping the field with Luthi.

With thirteen laps to go, Marquez moved past and proceeded to leave the Swiss rider and ride off into the distance. Maintaining a gap of just over two seconds, adding the odd tenth per lap, it was a masterful mature ride from the Spaniard to secure back-to-back victories for the first time since 2014, when he was crowned Moto3 World Champion.

Behind Marquez, Luca Marini got his 2019 campaign underway with a strong second place in his special liveried Sky VR46 Kalex with Luthi winning the battle for the final spot on the podium, leaving Baldassarri having to settle for fourth after fighting his way through from fifteenth.

Baldassarri’s fourth means the Italian holds onto the lead of the World Championship from Marquez by just two points.

Augusto Fernandez was fifth, with the Spaniard holding off impressive rookie Enea Bastianini and Jorge Navarro with the Spaniard settling for seventh place. Marcel Schrotter couldn’t back up his qualifying performance and ended in eighth with Sam Lowes and Fabio Di Giannantonio rounding out the top ten.

Stand-in Mattia Pasini was eleventh on his Petronas Kalex, ahead of Xavi Vierge who somehow stayed on his bike after a big collision with Di Giannantonio on the opening lap. Remy Gardener was thirteenth just ahead of SAG team-mate Tetsuta Nagashima with KTM’s Brad Binder rounding out the point scorers in fifteenth.