Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Motorsport prime

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Edition

Australia
Race report

Assen Moto2: Morbidelli beats title rival Luthi on final lap

Franco Morbidelli passed main Moto2 rival Thomas Luthi on the final lap to win at Assen and extend his lead at the top of the championship.

Franco Morbidelli, Marc VDS

Franco Morbidelli, Marc VDS

Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Yonny Hernandez, AGR Team
Lorenzo Baldassarri, Forward Racing
Franco Morbidelli, Marc VDS
Yonny Hernandez, AGR Team
Brad Binder, Red Bull KTM Ajo
Alex Marquez, Marc VDS

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

Be part of Motorsport community

Join the conversation
Previous article Rossi's Moto2 team keeps Bagnaia for 2018
Next article Sachsenring Moto2: Morbidelli beats Oliveira by 0.066s

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Motorsport prime

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Edition

Australia