Dominique Aegerter took his first Moto2 victory for three years in torrential conditions at Misano after holding off Thomas Luthi. The Swiss pair fought out a race-long battle and although he had to settle for second, Luthi has now closed to within nine points of championship leader Franco Morbidelli after the Italian crashed out of the lead.
Just as in the Moto3 race that had preceded it, the attrition rate was high as the conditions caught out the riders lap after lap. Polesitter Mattia Pasini didn’t make it beyond the second lap, losing control at Rio in an identical crash to Lorenzo Baldassarri, but the defining moment came on lap four as Morbidelli surrendered a two second lead, tumbling at Quercia.
This left Aegerter in the lead ahead of Luthi and Miguel Oliveira but the Portuguese rider was the next frontrunner to depart, losing the front end of his KTM at the high-speed turn fifteen. As a result, the battle for victory became an all-Swiss affair and as championship considerations took over, Luthi ultimately settled for second behind Aegerter who handed Suter their first victory since Luthi’s success in Valencia three years ago.
The final rostrum position went to an emotional Hafizh Syahrin who claimed the second podium of his career, albeit the first time he had been able to stand on one, while Francesco Bagnaia finished fourth, taking advantage of last lap crashes for Takaaki Nakagami and Simone Corsi. Brad Binder came through to fifth on the sole remaining KTM ahead of Sandro Cortese and Fabio Quartararo while Corsi remounted to limp home in eighth, just ahead of wet-weather specialist Khairul Idham Pawi.
Moto2 Tribul Mastercard GP San Marino e Riviera di Rimini – Race Result
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