Austin Moto2: Morbidelli keeps perfect record with third straight win

Having started from pole, Marc VDS rider Morbidelli led the way at the end of the opening lap after seeing off a brief challenge from fellow countryman Mattia Pasini (Italtrans).

Morbidelli's teammate Alex Marquez claimed the lead shortly afterwards and, even though Morbidelli got past him at the beginning of the back straight on each of the next two laps, Marquez slipstreamed his way back on both occasions.

However, Marquez then ran wide at Turn 15 and dropped to fourth.

Once back in the lead, Morbidelli pulled away from Pasini, who was soon demoted by Thomas Luthi (CarXpert Interwetten) and Marquez before falling at the first corner.

While Morbidelli couldn't build a decisive gap over Luthi for a long time, with the gap stagnating at around a second, he eventually pulled away and won by 2.6s ahead of the Swiss rider.

He therefore becomes the first 250cc/Moto2 rider to start the year with three straight wins since the late Daijiro Kato in 2001.

Takaaki Nakagami (Honda Team Asia) later passed Marquez for third, meaning the latter has still yet to make it to the podium this year.

Kiefer Racing's Dominique Aegerter was fifth, taking advantage of a small error from KTM rider Miguel Oliveira to take the place.

Moto2 veterans Simone Corsi (Speed Up) and Marcel Schrotter (Dynavolt Intact) took seventh and eighth respectively not far behind Oliveira.

Tech 3's Xavi Vierge and Luca Marini (Forward) completed the top 10.

Both the 2015 and 2016 Moto3 champions missed the race, as Danny Kent withdrew due to a back injury and Brad Binder missed the event after undergoing surgery.

The South African's replacement at KTM, Ricky Cardus, finished 14th.

The opening lap of the race saw two crashes, as Stefano Manzi took out Julian Simon - who was standing in for Tech 3's Remy Gardner - at Turn 1 before Yonny Hernandez skittled into Lorenzo Baldassarri at the end of the back straight.

Race results:

Pos.	Rider	Bike	Time/Gap
1	Franco Morbidelli	Kalex	41'20.078
2	Thomas Luthi	Kalex	2.633
3	Takaaki Nakagami	Kalex	6.809
4	Alex Marquez	Kalex	9.852
5	Dominique Aegerter	Suter	10.927
6	Miguel Oliveira	KTM	13.029
7	Simone Corsi	Speed Up	13.335
8	Marcel Schrötter	Suter	13.754
9	Xavi Vierge	Tech 3	18.079
10	Luca Marini	Kalex	21.418
11	Hafizh Syahrin	Kalex	21.430
12	Fabio Quartararo	Kalex	21.736
13	Xavier Simeon	Kalex	21.974
14	Ricard Cardus	KTM	24.245
15	Jorge Navarro	Kalex	24.863
16	Francesco Bagnaia	Kalex	28.226
17	Isaac Viñales	Kalex	28.443
18	Axel Pons	Kalex	34.767
19	Tetsuta Nagashima	Kalex	37.279
20	Andrea Locatelli	Kalex	37.530
21	Jesko Raffin	Kalex	38.953
22	Mattia Pasini	Kalex	43.720
23	Sandro Cortese	Suter	51.515
24	Axel Bassani	Speed Up	1'07.841
25	Khairul Idham Pawi	Kalex	1'08.137
Ret	Edgar Pons	Kalex	17 laps
Ret	Lorenzo Baldassarri	Kalex
Ret	Yonny Hernandez	Kalex
Ret	Julian Simon	Tech 3
Ret	Stefano Manzi	Kalex