Jonas Folger upset pre-race favourite Tito Rabat to take a sensational victory in the Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez. Having dominated qualifying, Rabat was expected to open his winning account for 2015 but he would be defeated by the German before a final corner incident saw Rabat beaten to second by Johann Zarco.
All looked to be going to plan for Rabat in the early laps as the Spaniard converted pole position into the lead at turn one but the race quickly fell apart for Sam Lowes as a problematic Dunlop tyre left him scrambling for grip. The Briton plummeted down the order at a relentless rate with his issues preventing him from even scoring a point as his Speed Up trailed home in 20th.
Zarco didn’t have things his own way either in the first half of the race, dropping to eleventh at one point, but once he managed to work his way into some clear tarmac, the Frenchman was clearly the fastest rider on the circuit. A succession of blistering laps saw him close in on the four-man leading group which comprised of Rabat, Folger, Alex Rins and Thomas Luthi but progress would be much tougher from there.
By the time Zarco was on terms with the frontrunners, Folger had wrestled control from Rabat thanks to a mistake at turn five and as the world champion ran into tyre troubles, Jonas eased away to a second victory of 2015. Tito’s problems intensified on the final couple of laps, allowing Rins to close in and approaching the final corner, the rookie had lined himself up for a dive up the inside. Unfortunately for Alex, Rabat had left his braking late enough to stay in front and Rins ploughed into his rear wheel, bringing the no.40 down and pushing the Marc VDS Kalex wide.
The beneficiary of it all was Zarco who ghosted through to second with Rabat a frustrated third while Rins eventually remounted his battered Kalex to finish eighteenth. Luthi finished fourth despite fading late on while Xavier Simeon beat Franco Morbidelli to fifth on his Gresini Kalex. Luis Salom gave the Pons team something to smile about with his first points of the season while Simone Corsi, Alex Marquez and Marcel Schrotter completed the top ten.
MOTO2 GRAN PREMIO BWIN DE ESPANA – RACE RESULT (26 LAPS)
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