Johann Zarco is potentially one race away from clinching the 2015 Moto2 world championship after another crucial victory at Misano. The Frenchman was a class apart once again, winning by nearly four seconds from Tito Rabat to move 93 points clear of the defending champion. Should Zarco outscore the Spaniard by seven points at Aragon next time out, he will claim the title with four races to spare.
Zarco didn’t have things all his own way early on with an aggressive Dominique Aegerter throwing everything at the Ajo rider in an attempt to take control of proceedings, the two even making contact on the back straight as they ran side-by-side. The Swiss did take the lead on lap two with Alex Rins following through into second but a horribly misjudged manoeuvre by the Spanish rookie on lap six eliminated them both on lap six, Rins careering into the race leader.
With Rabat languishing back in seventh at this stage, Zarco had a clear path to a third straight victory but a succession of daring overtakes saw the Marc VDS rider recover to second. Takaaki Nakagami ended his long podium drought in third after seeing off Simone Corsi while Julian Simon gave Speed Up some cheer with fifth, making up for the untimely exit of Sam Lowes whose rear tyre began shedding smoke and debris.
Jonas Folger threatened a podium finish before slipping to sixth, just ahead of Lorenzo Baldassarri while former Moto3 rivals Sandro Cortese and Luis Salom finished eighth and ninth respectively. Thomas Luthi was a poor tenth but Hafizh Syahrin endured even greater disappointment, plummeting to eighteenth having run as high as second.
MOTO2 GP TIM DI SAN MARINO E DELLA RIVIERA DI RIMINI: RACE RESULT
[table id=603 /]
