Misano MotoGP: Marc Marquez wins Moto2 thriller

Marc Marquez showed his ruthless streak once again with an incredible final lap to claim a thrilling Moto2 victory at a sun drenched Misano today.

The Spaniard won a restarted race that was shortened to 14 laps after a classic last lap battle with rival Espargaro that saw the lead change five times.

The initial race was red flagged after four laps when British rider Gino Rea’s Gresini Suter machine suffered a spectacular engine blow-up at the penultimate corner.

After a lengthy delay while track staff cleared the oil spillage, home favourite Andrea Iannone set the pace after the restart and he established a lead of almost 1.5s after just three laps.

But Iannone, who will join Ben Spies at Pramac Ducati in MotoGP next season, couldn’t hold off the relentless charge of Espargaro and Marquez.

Espargaro took lead from Iannone on lap 11 and on the same lap the Italian also lost second to an aggressive move from title leader Marquez.

Iannone then started to fade and he eventually claimed a comfortable third, but fans were treated to an epic finale between Espargaro and Marquez.

Espargaro started the final lap with a slender lead of just 0.183s and after the lead changed five times, it was Marquez who prevailed to extend his world championship lead.

Marquez eventually took his seventh win of the campaign by 0.359s and he now leads Espargaro by a massive 53-points in the title hunt with only five races remaining.

British rider Scott Redding took a hard fought seventh place and he was only 1.3s behind Marc VDS Racing team-mate Mika Kallio in fourth.

Fourth to 10th were split by less than three seconds with Bradley Smith working his way up from 11th on the grid to secure eighth. He finished just 0.489s behind compatriot Redding.