Franco Morbidelli capped off a dream weekend by winning the Dutch TT ahead of championship rival Thomas Luthi at Assen. The Italian, who announced earlier in the day that he would be graduating to MotoGP next season with Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS, defeated Luthi in a final lap battle to extend his overall lead to twelve points.
Although Moto2 isn’t too familiar with large pack races, the Grand Prix saw a six-man breakaway at the front with Morbidelli lucky to stay on board his Kalex after contact with Miguel Oliveira’s KTM. Morbidelli had ran slightly wide through turn three and as Oliveira dived for the gap, the two collided in similar circumstances to Valentino Rossi and Johann Zarco in the day’s MotoGP race.
Luthi led onto the final lap as he chased a first victory of 2017 but the critical move would come at De Bult with Morbidelli diving up the inside of the Swiss. Although Luthi still had half a lap to fight back, Morbidelli was able to defend his line into the final chicane and hold on for a fifth victory of the season, extending Thomas’ wait for his first.
Takaaki Nakagami had much greater difficulty defending his line in the chase towards the chequered flag with Mattia Pasini pushing for the final podium spot. Nakagami looked to have won the battle with a lunge up the inside into the Timmer chicane but Pasini straight-lined the corner, enabling him to cross the line ahead of the no.30. Race direction soon intervened though, demoting the Italian one position and handing third back to Nakagami, much to Pasini’s disgust.
Oliveira recovered from his early contact to take fifth ahead of Alex Marquez with Xavier Simeon holding off Hafizh Syahrin for seventh. Fabio Quartararo converted his lofty grid position into ninth in the race while Francesco Bagnaia completed the top ten.
Moto2 Motul TT Assen – Race Result
[table id=2152 /]
