Mugello Moto2: Oliveira wins superb race from 11th

Oliveira, who will ride for Tech 3 in MotoGP next year, inherited the lead when pole-sitter Mattia Pasini crashed out with what seemed a comfortable advantage - but was still made to work for KTM's first win of the year by a feisty Baldassarri, the pair swapping position many times.

A sluggish getaway from Pasini had allowed Marcel Schrotter to take the early lead, but the German crashed out immediately at Turn 2 as he tried to break away.

This left Alex Marquez in first place, the Spaniard fending off championship Francesco Bagnaia throughout the opening lap but surrendering the lead into Turn 1 as he ran wide under pressure from Bagnaia and Oliveira.

The Portuguese, who had been fifth by Turn 1, slipstreamed past Bagnaia the second time by on the main straight to head an emerging seven-bike lead group.

A recovering Pasini soon dispatched Bagnaia for second and slid up on Oliveira down the inside of the Poggio Secco right-hander, before overtaking the Portuguese twice more in the following laps after losing out to the KTM on the main straight.

As the race approached and passed its halfway point, Pasini began to break away, aided by Bagnaia challenging Oliveira for runner-up.

But just as Pasini looked settled in out front, he dropped on his right side into San Donato with eight laps to run and slid into the gravel, remounting the bike to ride it into the pitlane and retire.

This left Oliveira in the lead, now under pressure from Baldassarri as Bagnaia's pace had dropped off markedly.

Soon enough, Baldassarri briefly edged past Oliveira through the Turn 6-7 complex, yielding to the Portuguese at the right-hander Arrabbiata 1 corner but then completing the move for good at San Donato.

But Oliveira kept up and the pair continued to scrap, swapping position three times in three successive corners – and, when Baldassarri edged ahead once more with three laps to go, Bagnaia and Joan Mir closed right up to them.

Oliveira lunged down the inside of Baldassarri at Turn 6 on the penultimate lap, but the Italian rider struck back at Turn 7.

He seemed clear on the final lap but had a huge wobble on the throttle, allowing Oliveira to close back in and force a pass at Arrabbiata 2 that finally decided the race.

Behind Baldassarri, Suzuki MotoGP target Mir beat Bagnaia for his second Moto2 podium, while the Italian – who will ride the Pramac in the premier class next year – finished just four tenths behind the winner in fourth.

Bagnaia retains a 13-point lead over Oliveira, with Baldassarri now third, 27 points off.

Having run up front early on, Marquez was forced wide by Baldassarri and never recovered, finishing fifth.

Brad Binder was a lonely sixth for KTM, ahead of locals Luca Marini and Andrea Locatelli, with Xavi Vierge and Simone Corsi making up the top 10.

Rookie Romano Fenati had been part of the lead group early on but retired with mechanical issues.

Former MotoGP riders Hector Barbera and Sam Lowes were among the riders to crash, Barbera having collided with Tetsuta Nagashima after an ill-judged overtaking attempt.

Session results:

Pos.	#	Rider	Bike	Time/Gap
1	44	Miguel Oliveira	KTM	39'42.018
2	7	Lorenzo Baldassarri	Kalex	0.184
3	36	Joan Mir	Kalex	0.334
4	42	Francesco Bagnaia	Kalex	0.484
5	73	Alex Marquez	Kalex	3.537
6	41	Brad Binder	KTM	5.985
7	10	Luca Marini	Kalex	9.908
8	5	Andrea Locatelli	Kalex	11.219
9	97	Xavi Vierge	Kalex	12.371
10	24	Simone Corsi	Kalex	12.675
11	20	Fabio Quartararo	Speed Up	17.843
12	77	Dominique Aegerter	KTM	20.353
13	27	Iker Lecuona	KTM	28.751
14	16	Joe Roberts	NTS	32.436
15	4	Steven Odendaal	NTS	32.465
16	32	Isaac Viñales	Kalex	33.054
17	66	Niki Tuuli	Kalex	33.505
18	89	Khairul Idham Pawi	Kalex	43.900
19	51	Eric Granado	Suter	47.264
20	14	Hector Garzo	Tech 3	56.603
21	21	Federico Fuligni	Kalex	1'13.609
22	18	Xavi Cardelus	Kalex	1'27.927
Ret	45	Tetsuta Nagashima	Kalex	6 laps
Ret	40	Hector Barbera	Kalex	6 laps
Ret	54	Mattia Pasini	Kalex	8 laps
Ret	95	Jules Danilo	Kalex	9 laps
Ret	62	Stefano Manzi	Suter	11 laps
Ret	52	Danny Kent	Speed Up	12 laps
Ret	13	Romano Fenati	Kalex	14 laps
Ret	22	Sam Lowes	KTM	15 laps
Ret	9	Jorge Navarro	Kalex	17 laps
Ret	64	Bo Bendsneyder	Tech 3	-
Ret	23	Marcel Schrötter	Kalex	-