Johann Zarco has stretched further clear of championship rival Tito Rabat after proving the stronger of the two in the Dutch TT at Assen. The Frenchman forced his way past Rabat with an aggressive move four laps from home and was never headed from there as he moved 45 points clear of the reigning champion.
Rabat looked to have stolen a march on the rest of the field on lap one only to be stopped in his tracks by a red flag. Luis Salom had been involved in an accident with Anthony West at the first corner with his damaged Pons Kalex spilling oil on the outside of the track, leaving race direction with no choice but to bring a halt to proceedings.
Due to the delay, the race distance was shortened to sixteen laps and Jonas Folger looked to have made a decisive break at the restart following a lightning getaway from row two. The German did increase his lead to over a second as Rabat and Zarco squabbled over second but once their duel settled down, Rabat wiped out the AGR rider’s advantage.
In consecutive laps, Folger was relegated out of the podium reckoning altogether with Rabat, Zarco and Sam Lowes easing through at around half distance and attention soon switched to the two title rivals as they fought for victory. The battle was settled on lap thirteen when Johann barged the Marc VDS rider out of the way at turn three and in such a short race, a half second advantage was all he needed to wrap up a third win of 2015.
Rabat and Lowes completed the podium while Alex Rins, Thomas Luthi and Xavier Simeon demoted Folger all the way to seventh spot. Mika Kallio finished eighth ahead of Alex Marquez while Simone Corsi paid the price for a dreadful start and trailed home in tenth.
MOTO2 MOTUL TT ASSEN – RACE RESULT (16 LAPS)
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