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Marquez Wins At Indianapolis To Ignite Title Race

4 Mins read

Marc Marquez blew the Moto2 championship race wide open with a supreme victory in the Indianapolis Grand Prix to eat into Stefan Bradl's overall lead. The German put in a superb ride of his own to take sixth but paid the price for his lowly grid position as Marquez reduced his advantage to 28 points.

The German was 22nd as the red lights went out but all eyes were on the man in fourth as Bradley Smith got another lightning start to lead around the first corner. The Briton put a brave move around the outside of Marquez and Simone Corsi followed him through into second at the next corner.

Smith wouldn't lead over the yard of bricks though as Corsi drafted past him on the start/finish straight before Marquez and Andrea Iannone demoted Smith to fourth by the end of lap three. The Tech 3 youngster kept himself in touch though while Esteve Rabat closed in to make it a five-way dice for the lead.

Corsi's resistance was broken on lap eight as Marquez took him on the inside of turn one. The Ioda Racing FTR was clearly in some difficulty and a moment on the next lap saw another five places disappear. Iannone took over second while Rabat moved up to third ahead of Smith.

The leading group was getting bigger and bigger with Pol Espargaro and Scott Redding also hauling themselves into contention but Corsi was in freefall and soon came under pressure from the recovering Bradl.

The next man to hit problems in the sweltering conditions was Iannone who lost his grip on second to Rabat while Espargaro followed him through. 12 laps were still remaining and the all-British battle between Smith and Redding swallowed him up too, as did Bradl on lap 22.

The race had now settled down and Marquez duly cruised home to his fifth win of the year. Rabat and Espargaro made sure the rostrum was an all-Spanish affair, claiming their first ever Moto2 podiums in the process.

Smith came home in an excellent fourth while Redding matched his best result of the season in fifth. Bradl managed to limit the damage to sixth place with Julian Simon following him home in seventh. Mattia Pasini avoided the problems that plagued teammate Corsi to finish eighth with Mika Kallio ninth and Aleix Espargaro tenth to complete a wonderful day for his particular family.

Iannone's capitulation resulted in 11th place while Corsi suffered so badly that he only managed to score two points for 14th. Alex de Angelis had a rare off-day in 15th while Thomas Luthi and Yuki Takahashi were among the big names that toiled home outside the points.

 

Race Result (26 Laps):

Pos Rider Nat Bike Team Time/Gap
1 Marc Marquez SPA Suter Team Catalunya Caixa Repsol 45:50.601
2 Pol Espargaro SPA FTR HP Tuenti Speed Up +1.889
3 Esteve Rabat SPA FTR Blusens-STX +2.310
4 Bradley Smith GBR Tech 3 Tech 3 Racing +3.389
5 Scott Redding GBR Suter Marc VDS Racing Team +5.674
6 Stefan Bradl GER Kalex Viessman Kiefer Racing +9.134
7 Julian Simon SPA Suter Mapfre Aspar Team Moto2 +9.347
8 Mattia Pasini ITA FTR Ioda Racing Project +15.010
9 Mika Kallio FIN Suter Marc VDS Racing Team +15.031
10 Aleix Espargaro SPA Pons Kalex Pons HP 40 +15.339
11 Andrea Iannone ITA Suter Speed Master +17.447
12 Dominique Aegerter SWI Suter Technomag-CIP +21.727
13 Xavier Simeon BEL Tech 3 Tech 3 B +24.279
14 Simone Corsi ITA FTR Ioda Racing Project +25.714
15 Alex de Angelis RSM Motobi JIR Moto2 +26.894
16 Jules Cluzel FRA Suter NGM Forward Racing +27.375
17 Thomas Luthi SWI Suter Interwetten Paddock Moto2 +27.546
18 Jordi Torres SPA Suter Mapfre Aspar Team Moto2 +27.764
19 Ricard Cardus SPA Moriwaki QMMF Racing Team +27.946
20 Michele Pirro ITA Moriwaki Gresini Racing Moto2 +29.362
21 Randy Krummenacher SWI Kalex GP Team Switzerland Kiefer Racing +31.701
22 Claudio Corti ITA Suter Italtrans Racing Team +32.030
23 Raffaele de Rosa ITA Suter NGM Forward Racing +32.100
24 Max Neukirchner GER MZ-RE Honda MZ Racing Team +36.387
25 Yuki Takahashi JAP Moriwaki Gresini Racing Moto2 +37.801
26 Anthony West AUS MZ-RE Honda MZ Racing Team +42.146
27 Mike Di Meglio FRA Tech 3 Tech 3 Racing +53.491
28 Martin Cardenas COL FTR Blusens-STX +58.947
29 JD Beach USA FTR Aeroport de Castello +1:04.334
30 Valentin Debise FRA FTR Speed Up +1:12.230
31 Jacob Gagne (WC) USA FTR GPTech +1:12.503
32 Robertino Pietri VEN Suter Italtrans Racing Team +1:15.177
33 Santiago Hernandez COL FTR SAG Team +1:15.899
34 Alex Baldolini ITA Pons Kalex Pons HP 40 +1:37.102
35 Mashel Al Naimi QAT Moriwaki QMMF Racing Team +1 Lap
Not Classified
Ratthapark Wilairot THA FTR Thai Honda Singha SAG +5 Laps
Carmelo Morales SPA Suter Desguaces La Torre G22 +11 Laps
Kenny Noyes USA FTR Avintia-STX +19 Laps
Kenan Sofuoglu TUR Suter Technomag-CIP Non Starter

 

Lap Leaders (26 Laps):

Corsi (1-7), Marquez (8-26)

 

Riders' Championship (After Round 11: Indianapolis)

Pos Rider Nat Bike Team Wins Pts
1 Stefan Bradl GER Kalex Viessman Kiefer Racing 4 193
2 Marc Marquez SPA Suter Team Catalunya Caixa Repsol 5 165
3 Andrea Iannone ITA Suter Speed Master 2 96
4 Alex de Angelis RSM Motobi JIR Moto2 96
5 Simone Corsi ITA FTR Ioda Racing Project 93
6 Bradley Smith GBR Tech 3 Tech 3 Racing 92
7 Thomas Luthi SWI Suter Interwetten Paddock Moto2 88
8 Yuki Takahashi JAP Moriwaki Gresini Racing Moto2 62
9 Esteve Rabat SPA FTR Blusens-STX 62
10 Julian Simon SPA Suter Mapfre Aspar Team Moto2 58
11 Aleix Espargaro SPA Pons Kalex Pons HP 40 54
12 Randy Krummenacher SWI Kalex GP Team Switzerland Kiefer Racing 52
13 Kenan Sofuoglu TUR Suter Technomag-CIP 45
14 Dominique Aegerter SWI Suter Technomag-CIP 45
15 Michele Pirro ITA Moriwaki Gresini Racing Moto2 43
16 Pol Espargaro SPA FTR HP Tuenti Speed Up 36
17 Scott Redding GBR Suter Marc VDS Racing Team 36
18 Jules Cluzel FRA Suter NGM Forward Racing 35
19 Yonny Hernandez COL FTR Blusens-STX 33
20 Max Neukirchner GER MZ-RE Honda MZ Racing Team 32
21 Mattia Pasini ITA FTR Ioda Racing Project 26
22 Anthony West AUS MR-RE Honda MZ Racing Team 18
23 Mika Kallio FIN Suter Marc VDS Racing Team 18
24 Alex Baldolini ITA Pons Kalex Pons HP 40 18
25 Kev Coghlan GBR FTR Aeroport de Castello 11
26 Claudio Corti ITA Suter Italtrans Racing Team 9
27 Xavier Simeon BEL Tech 3 Tech 3 B 9
28 Mike Di Meglio FRA Tech 3 Tech 3 Racing 8
29 Ratthapark Wilairot THA FTR Thai Honda Singha SAG 4
30 Ricard Cardus SPA Moriwaki QMMF Racing Team 2
31 Axel Pons SPA Pons Kalex Pons HP 40 1
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