Miguel Oliveira rounded off KTM’s debut Moto2 season in style by claiming his third consecutive victory at Valencia. The Portuguese rider chased down early leader Franco Morbidelli to take a superbly judged win while Brad Binder completed another double rostrum finish for the Red Bull KTM Ajo squad.
The race was set up to be a straight fight between the two Marc VDS Kalex riders and the KTM twins, especially once Mattia Pasini took himself out of play with a crash on lap four. By this stage, Morbidelli appeared to have taken control having muscled his team-mate Alex Marquez aside at turn four while the Spaniard held Oliveira back.
Miguel finally eased Marquez aside on lap ten to claim second spot but not before Morbidelli had opened up a 2.1 second advantage. Oliveira was relentless though, lapping consistently in the high 1:35s to zero in on the back of the world champion. On lap 22, the Italian finally gave best as the no.44 forced his way through at turn four, easing Franco onto the kerbs.
From there, Oliveira had a clear path to victory with Morbidelli holding off Binder for second but Marquez faded badly in the latter stages, falling prey to Francesco Bagnaia as a result and falling to fifth. Hafizh Syahrin finished a solid sixth ahead of MotoGP-bound Takaaki Nakagami while Fabio Quartararo took eighth, edging out the rider he will replace at Speed Up for 2018, Simone Corsi.
Moto2 Gran Premio Motul de la Comunitat Valenciana: Result
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