Tito Rabat got his Moto2 championship defence up and running with his first victory of the season at Mugello. The Spaniard held off the late challenge of Johann Zarco to take his first win since Misano 2014 while Dominique Aegerter ended his podium drought at the expense of polesitter Sam Lowes.
For Speed Up, any hopes of a home victory were extinguished at the start of lap two when Lowes, who had fallen to fourth off the start line, tangled with the Forward Racing Kalex of Simone Corsi. The Briton sent a speculative move up the inside of the Italian but found the door slammed firmly shut when he arrived at San Donato. Corsi was eliminated on the spot and although Lowes was luckier, staying on his machine, he fell to eleventh in the process.
The early lead switched between the Swiss Interwetten teammates with Aegerter falling behind Thomas Luthi but the no.77 would regain control on lap three when the French GP winner slid off at Correntaio. Rabat held second ahead of Zarco and Jonas Folger but the world champion’s patience only lasted until the start of lap seven when he dived past Aegerter at San Donato.
Lowes had made steady progress to keep himself in touch with the leading group and when Folger crashed out at Casanova, the Lincolnshire man was up to fifth behind the Pons Kalex of Luis Salom. The Spaniard didn’t out up much resistance in the battle for fourth but Aegerter proved a much tougher nut to crack, forcing Lowes to settle for a frustrating fourth at the finish.
The day belonged to Rabat though who kept Zarco at bay in the latter stages to win by three tenths of a second with Aegerter completing the podium ahead of Lowes and Salom. Xavier Simeon finished sixth ahead of the second Speed Up of Julian Simon while Sandro Cortese and Axel Pons took eighth and ninth respectively, profiting from a late error by Lorenzo Baldassarri which dropped the sole remaining Forward rider to tenth.
MOTO2 GRAN PREMIO D’ITALIA TIM – RACE RESULT (21 LAPS)
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