Franco Morbidelli has strengthened his position at the top of the Moto2 world championship after winning the German Grand Prix. The Italian held off KTM’s Miguel Oliveira in a head-to-head battle and with title rival Thomas Luthi crashing out of second place, Morbidelli takes a 37 point cushion into the summer break.
Morbidelli looked to have victory in his hands after Luthi’s unexpected demise, the Swiss rider tumbling at turn twelve to end his 100% points scoring record for the year. However Oliveira’s late race charge piled on the pressure, only for the Italian to outbrake the KTM at the start of the final lap and hold on to the flag.
Speaking after a crucial victory, Morbidelli was ecstatic to have struck such a significant blow heading into the five-week summer break, especially after his team-mate Alex Marquez had also failed to finish.
“After this sixth win of the season I am living the dream and don’t want to wake up. It was a very difficult race especially to defend the lead against Miguel who caught me very fast in the middle of the race. But then he did not overtake and if he had done I would have been struggling. I was getting ready for a big battle over the final two laps. It was not easy but I did a very good final lap and that gave me the victory. Thanks to my team for all the hard work.”
Francesco Bagnaia completed the podium after holding off fellow Italians Simone Corsi and Mattia Pasini while Jorge Navarro and Brad Binder were two other rookies to impress, finishing sixth and seventh respectively. Sandro Cortese couldn’t quite back up his front row grid slot although he did finish as the leading German rider in eighth, edging out team-mate Marcel Schrotter.
