Catalunya Moto2: Pons riders 1-2 as Espargaro takes win

Pol Espargaro took his second Moto2 win of the year at his home race today, after a race-long battle with team mate Tito Rabat.

Espargaro and Rabat were the only two to lead the race, making an early break together and trading laps repeatedly before Espargaro got a break. A Herculean effort from Rabat to close in his lead in the final laps was in vain, and he was forced to settle for second by only 0.08.

Thomas Luthi finally made a recovery to pre-injury form to take the third spot on the podium, ahead of Scott Redding. Redding got a bad start, and was forced to work his way up to catch the leading two, dragging Luthi with him.

However, Luthi was able to force past the Brit and stick with the leaders a little longer, before he too was unable to stick with the pace of the Tuenti HP 40 riders.

Brit Danny Kent scored his first Moto2 points in 13th place, while Kyle Ryde was 17th. Second placed man in the championship Nico Terol had a disaster of a race in 16th.

Espargaro said afterwards; “It was tough in the last two laps, as Tito was putting in a very good lap time and I has having much problems with both my tyres. I need to thank my team, as we’ve had much improvement since Mugello, and we’ve taken points off Scott today.”

1 40 Pol ESPARGARO SPA Tuenti HP 40 Kalex 41’17.307
2 80 Esteve RABAT SPA Tuenti HP 40 Kalex +0.081
3 12 Thomas LUTHI SWI Interwetten Paddock Moto2 Racing Suter +6.264
4 45 Scott REDDING GBR Marc VDS Racing Team Kalex +9.061
5 30 Takaaki NAKAGAMI JPN Italtrans Racing Team Kalex +10.597
6 4 Randy KRUMMENACHER SWI Technomag carXpert Suter +11.577
7 5 Johann ZARCO FRA Came Iodaracing Project Suter +15.569
8 77 Dominique AEGERTER SWI Technomag carXpert Suter +28.280
9 36 Mika KALLIO FIN Marc VDS Racing Team Kalex +28.352
10 3 Simone CORSI ITA NGM Mobile Racing Speed Up +28.461
13 52 Danny KENT GBR Tech 3 Tech 3 +31.318
17 9 Kyle SMITH GBR Blusens Avintia Kalex +44.392