Moto2: Morbidelli reasserts his dominance at Red Bull Ring

Franco Morbidelli has launched himself back into control of the 2017 Moto2 season, after taking an impressive victory over teammate Alex Marquez at the Red Bull Ring – and to extend his championship lead over rival Tom Luthi in third.

Coming home in perfect form after a disaster last time out at the Czech Grand Prix, the Italian said afterwards that the result couldn’t have come at a better time for him.

“This is a crucial victory for me in the championship and comes at the perfect moment after my poor result in Brno last weekend. I came here focussed to do a good job and although we started slowly on Friday my team worked very well and gave me a great package to go for the victory. I’m very happy for this win and thanks to everyone for their support.”

And despite the chaos of a first corner smash that took eight riders out of contention, Brit Tarran Mackenzie was able to put together a strong race to take his best ever Grand Prix finish of 20^th, pleased to have come home only 45 seconds down on the leaders.

“It was quite my best race so far. Twentieth position is good though, many people crashed but our overall race time, which is always our main target, was much better, maybe 15 to 20 seconds faster than my previous best. So, I’m happy and also for that fact that I improved the lap times during the race over half of a second.

“Beyond that, I was able to race quite consistent. On Friday and Saturday, I struggled a little bit so I’m happy to turn it around in the race. My feeling with the bike was much better and we have a test tomorrow so, maybe we can test something to get a bit more comfortable and get ready for my British Grand Prix. I can’t wait for this race anyway.”