Moto2: Calculating Zarco snatches victory from Luthi
Johann Zarco had a little extra hidden in the tank after stalking Tom Luthi for the entire race distance before showing his cards on the penultimate lap to snatch another win in Sepang at the Moto2 Malaysian Grand Prix.
The Ajo Motorsport rider was back-flipping once again after conserving his tyres for a final assault on long-term leader Luthi. The new Moto2 champion had started his final lunge with three laps to go, reeling in the small gap that had appeared.
The Frenchman then pounced with two laps remaining and after an initial, brief fight back there was no response strong enough from Luthi as Zarco blocked well enough to deny his race rival any opportunity of a final slipstream for his eighth win of the year.
Another podium finish also means Zarco equals the record for the most intermediate rostrum finishes in a season, matching the 14 of Marc Marquez and Tito Rabat with one round remaining.
The Moto2 race has also now been won by six different riders in the six years since the class made it's debut.
Interwetten' pole sitter Luthi had lead for most of the race distance after re-passing Zarco on lap one before being forced to settle for second. A distant and lonely ride by Jonas Folger secured him the final podium spot for the AGR Team after his main rival Alex Rins crashed out of contention.
Taka Nakagami was a distant fourth for Idemitsu Honda Team Asia, easing past his big rival on track, Lorenzo Baldassarri (Forward Racing), in the closing stages.
Luis Salom also found something late on for the Pons team as he propelled himself up to a sixth place finish, racing past Sandro Cortese (Dynavolt Intact GP) over the line , leaving the German seventh.
Malaysia's Hafizh Syahrin, gave everything to entertain the home crowd. The local rider picked up nine places on the first lap to move into eighth after a poor qualifying before biding his time for a late attack, passing Xavier Simeon as the pack splintered for a final move back into eighth.
Syahrin celebrated his achievement like a winner, throwing his gloves into the excited home crowd.
Simone Corsi too slipped his Forward Racing bike ahead of Gresini's Simeon for ninth leaving the Belgian to complete the top ten.
Axel Pons was also close to passing Simeon on the final lap but fell just short in eleventh for the AGR Team.
Mika Kallio was next to take the chequered flag in twelfth while a struggling Sam Lowes did all he could as the Speed Up struggled with grip in the heat, gentlemanly allowing the battling groups past his failing bike before rallying back to pass back Ricky Cardus for a final 13th.
That move left the Suter of JP MotoMalaysia rider Cardus in 14th at the team's home race, with Franco Morbidelli securing the final point on offer for Italtrans.
Local rider Azlan Shah ran wide very early but recovered well enough to take 16th, whereas the first man out of the race was Julian Simon, with Marcel Schrotter off shortly after.
On lap four Florian Alt slid off but held the handlebars and kept running to rejoin, Alex Marquez crashed seconds later. He too rejoined only to retire. Thitipong Warokorn also crashed out.
Alex Rins was the only casualty up front, the Spaniard was spat off his Pons machine after losing the front when battling to hold off Folger for third with ten laps remaining.
