Assen Moto2: Morbidelli beats title rival Luthi on final lap

Morbidelli led the first quarter of the race comfortably from pole position, pulling a one-second buffer by the end of the opening lap.

However, as the race progressed, Miguel Oliveira, who had jumped from fourth to second at the start, started piling pressure on the Italian before making a move at the final chicane on Lap 4.

But Oliveira’s stint at the front didn’t last for too long with Mattia Pasini and then Takaaki Nakagami both passing the Portuguese rider in the following laps.

It was the Japanese rider, who took the lead next, but he couldn't pull away either, and Luthi, recovering from an early slip, passed Nakagami with just four laps to go.

Meanwhile, Morbidelli was himself fighting his way back up front and passed Pasini and Nakagami in quick succession to set up a thrilling showdown for victory.

On the final lap, the Marc VDS rider made a decisive move on Luthi and made it stick to take the chequered flag and extend his advantage in the Moto2 points standings.

Behind the leading duo, Nakagami was classified third after Pasini was penalised for cutting the final chicane while battling with the Japanese rider.

Oliveira finished fifth while Alex Marquez crossed the line in sixth, having run as high as third at multiple stages in the races.

Race results:

Pos.	Rider	Bike	Gap
1	Franco Morbidelli	Kalex
2	Thomas Luthi	Kalex	0.158
3	Takaaki Nakagami	Kalex	0.630
4	Mattia Pasini	Kalex	0.394
5	Miguel Oliveira	KTM	0.657
6	Alex Marquez	Kalex	2.774
7	Xavier Simeon	Kalex	6.967
8	Hafizh Syahrin	Kalex	7.027
9	Fabio Quartararo	Kalex	11.089
10	Francesco Bagnaia	Kalex	11.623
11	Marcel Schrötter	Suter	14.196
12	Dominique Aegerter	Suter	14.521
13	Brad Binder	KTM	18.210
14	Yonny Hernandez	Kalex	18.926
15	Jorge Navarro	Kalex	21.767
16	Remy Gardner	Tech 3	22.008
17	Jesko Raffin	Kalex	22.179
18	Andrea Locatelli	Kalex	32.097
19	Augusto Fernandez	Speed Up	32.231
20	Stefano Manzi	Kalex	40.349
21	Tetsuta Nagashima	Kalex	44.830
22	Axel Pons	Kalex	48.509
23	Iker Lecuona	Kalex	57.518
24	Edgar Pons	Kalex	1'06.824
25	Tarran Mackenzie	Suter	1'24.146
26	Khairul Idham Pawi	Kalex	3 laps
Ret	Isaac Viñales	Kalex	13 laps
Ret	Sandro Cortese	Suter	19 laps
Ret	Luca Marini	Kalex	23 laps
Ret	Simone Corsi	Speed Up	23 laps