Alex Rins has moved into second place in the Moto2 world championship after a dominant victory in the Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island. The Spaniard was in a class of his own, winning by over six seconds from Sam Lowes, while Lorenzo Baldassarri claimed his maiden Grand Prix podium in third place.
All eyes were on the front row of the grid at the start, especially with Axel Pons starting there for the first time in his career, but the AGR rider was a little too keen to get going and was pulled up for a jump start. Although he led briefly around the first lap, the 24 year old was soon crawling through the pitlane to serve his penalty, ending any hopes of a podium finish.
Rins dropped briefly to third on the first lap after Pons’ hasty getaway but the Paginas Amarillas rider quickly regained control by outdragging Lowes on the approach to Doohan corner on the third lap. From that point onwards, he was never under any threat with second being disputed between Lowes and Thomas Luthi.
The Swiss rider edged ahead on lap six and looked to keeping Lowes at bay with relative ease but a costly error at MG on lap seventeen ruled Thomas out of contention, giving Sam a clear path to second place. Jonas Folger was briefly promoted to third but within seconds of inheriting a podium spot, the German was chased down by Baldassarri and when the no.94 Kalex later picked up a puncture, that battle was also settled.
Xavier Simeon took his best result since winning in Germany with fifth while Luis Salom broke the top six for the first time since Catalunya. A strangely subdued Johann Zarco finished seventh ahead of Mika Kallio and Alex Marquez while Randy Krummenacher completed the top ten.
MOTO2 PRAMAC AUSTRALIAN MOTORCYCLE GRAND PRIX: RACE RESULT
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