Moto2 Catalunya: Marquez makes it three after late breakaway
Home hero Alex Marquez continued his fine run of form in the intermediate class after banking his third consecutive victory in the Moto2 Catalunya Grand Prix.
After swapping the lead with Tom Luthi the Spaniard found almost a second advantage on lap six after finding a way past once and for all, he then extended his lead to 1.989s by the time he reached the chequered flag.
The EG 0,0 rider now leads the championship with a total of 111 points, seven points ahead of Luthi who finished the race second for Dynavolt Intact GP, surviving late pressure from Jorge Navarro as he suffered from a lack of grip in the closing stages.
Navarro joins the Kalex pair on the podium with late race pace on his Heidrun Speed UP seeing him able to pick off the positions and claim the final rostrum spot.
Pole-sitter Augusto Fernandez (Flexbox HP40) could not stay with the frontrunners and was over three seconds behind Marquez after giving everything for fourth.
Enea Bastianini (Italtrans) was the best of the rookies in a lonely fifth, unable to bridge the gap to the riders ahead of him but free of the battle for sixth raging behind.
That on-track war was won by Luca Marini who rubbed elbows and looked up the inside and outside of his rivals every lap until he found a way through on the Sky Racing VR46 Racing entry.
He moved past both Marcel Schrotter who took seventh on the second Dynavolt entry and long term leader of their mini-group Xavi Vierge (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) who crossed the line in eighth, still a strong result after qualifying down in 20th.
Gresini’s Sam Lowes again spent much of his time on track riding solo for a lonely ninth after fading in the opening laps following his superb qualifying, which saw him sit third on the grid.
Tetsuta Nagashima recoreded just his second top ten finish of the season with the SAG Team.
He was nearly two seconds clear of the best KTM - as Brad Binder pushed his Red Bull Ajo machine to the limit for eleventh as the manufacturer continues to struggle.
Andrea Locatelli brought the second Italtrans entry home in 12th, just ahead of Nicolo Bulega on the second Sky entry in 13th.
The final points on offer went to Tasca Racing’s Simone Corsi in 14th and Jorge Martin (Red Bull KTM Ajo) in 15th.
Jonas Folger, who came out of retirement to replace the injured Mattia Pasini, who had been replacing the already sidelined Khairul Idham Pawi, finished 19th for Petronas Sprinta Racing.
Remy Gardner exited on lap one, in contact with Lorenzo Baldassarri he clipped the handlebars on the Pons bike and ended up in the turn four gravel.
Iker Lecuona pulled in to the pits to retire, then Baldassarri was next to exit the race - his off with sixteen laps remaining dented his title hopes hugely after leading the way in the standings until this round, with it tight at the top he falls to fourth overall.
Fabio Di Giannantonio only lasted a couple of laps longer before he slid out at turn ten after the front end of his bike folded. Stefano Manzi fell at the same corner soon after. Jake Dixon was the final crasher on the last lap of the race after being hit by Joe Roberts.
