Jonas Folger claimed his first Moto2 victory for over a year after coping best with torrential conditions at Brno. The German led every lap to take victory ahead of Alex Rins and Sam Lowes who both revived their championship challenges thanks to a difficult afternoon for series leader Johann Zarco.
Zarco had qualified on pole position but despite a victory in similar conditions at the Sachsenring, the reigning champion never figured in the battle for the lead this time. The only time Johann led the field was off the start line but a fast-starting Folger drew alongside from the second row and showed remarkable bravery to ride round the outside of the Frenchman at turn one, grabbing the lead immediately.
As the Ajo rider tumbled down the order, Rins led the chase behind Folger but Lowes had work to do initially, lying fifth behind Takaaki Nakagami and Hafizh Syahrin. The Briton began his podium push with a move on Syahrin entering the stadium section on lap three and once he had dived past Nakagami a lap later, third place belonged to the Gresini rider.
The top three soon spaced out but there was no shortage of action behind with Nakagami later coming under pressure from Simone Corsi who used his Speed Up as a battering ram to overtake the Japanese rider. Nakagami was eliminated on the spot but Corsi’s hopes of points were soon extinguished by a ride-through penalty.
Mattia Pasini emerged in an unlikely fourth, matching his result in Germany, although it didn’t come without drama with the Italian colliding with Sandro Cortese on the penultimate lap. The demise of the German promoted Alex Marquez to fifth with Hafizh Syahrin completing the top six for Petronas Raceline Malaysia.
Danny Kent produced a timely return to form with seventh ahead of Franco Morbidelli and Miguel Oliveira but the day‘s stand-out performance came from Anthony West who dragged the unfancied Suter into the top ten, one spot ahead of the subdued Zarco.
Moto2 HJC Helmets Grand Prix Ceske Republiky (Race Result)
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