2012 Jerez Moto2 Race Result: Close Battle Ended Early By Rain

Submitted by David Emmett on Sun, 2012-04-29 11:16
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Results and summary of the Moto2 race at Jerez:

Pol Espargaro has taken his maiden victory in the Moto2 class, after rain caused the race to be red flagged. The rain cost Marc Marquez his second win of the season, as he was leading the race when the red flags were waved. Taking the race back one lap meant that Espargaro had been leading, giving the Pons Kalex rider victory, and demoting Marquez to second.

Luthi got away at the start, firing off the second row and into the lead, with Pol Espargaro and Thomas Luthi close behind. That threesome was joined by Mike di Meglio and Scott Redding, and a close group formed and started to pull a gap. A mistake by Di Meglio saw him drop out of the fight for first, leaving Redding, Luthi, Marquez and Espargaro to settle the podium.

Conditions were still difficult after the Moto3 race, with damp patches still spotting the track, meaning any mistake meant you dropped several places. Redding took over the lead from Luthi after the Swiss rider hit one damp patch, which also allowed Marquez past. The lead swapped several times, Marquez passing Redding, Redding passing back, then Luthi and Marquez taking back over at the front.

The appearance of the first spots of rain quickly separated the pack, with Luthi, Marquez and Espargaro at the front. As conditions got worse, Espargaro got better, and the Spaniard elbowed first Luthi and then Marquez aside to take the lead. Marquez, aware that the race could be red-flagged, decided to make his move on lap 18, but he got his gamble wrong by one lap. The race was red flagged shortly afterwards, the race being taken back to the last lap completed by all riders, handing Espargaro his first win in Moto2. Marquez was forced to settle for 2nd, while Luthi ended up in 3rd.

Marquez' 2nd place gives him a comfortable lead in the championship heading into next week's race at Estoril.

More to follow ASAP

Results:

Pos. No. Rider Manufacturer Time Diff
1 40 Pol ESPARGARO KALEX 30'12.879  
2 93 Marc MARQUEZ SUTER 30'13.120 0.241
3 12 Thomas LUTHI SUTER 30'13.362 0.483
4 45 Scott REDDING KALEX 30'17.293 4.414
5 30 Takaaki NAKAGAMI KALEX 30'17.716 4.837
6 71 Claudio CORTI KALEX 30'18.760 5.881
7 36 Mika KALLIO KALEX 30'19.028 6.149
8 77 Dominique AEGERTER SUTER 30'19.976 7.097
9 24 Toni ELIAS SUTER 30'20.745 7.866
10 5 Johann ZARCO MOTOBI 30'21.559 8.680
11 38 Bradley SMITH 30'22.261 148.544  
12 15 Alex DE ANGELIS SUTER 30'22.647 9.768
13 19 Xavier SIMEON 30'23.312 148.459  
14 29 Andrea IANNONE SPEED UP 30'44.245 31.366
15 8 Gino MORIWAKI 30'44.383 31.504
16 95 Anthony WEST MORIWAKI 30'47.051 34.172
17 3 Simone CORSI FTR 30'47.329 34.450
18 49 Axel PONS KALEX 30'49.289 36.410
19 88 Ricard CARDUS AJR 30'49.682 36.803
20 47 Angel RODRIGUEZ FTR 30'50.328 37.449
21 72 Yuki TAKAHASHI SUTER 30'52.344 39.465
22 4 Randy KRUMMENACHER KALEX 30'58.661 45.782
23 60 Julian SIMON SUTER 30'59.042 46.163
24 7 Alexander LUNDH MZ Racing MZ-RE HONDA 30'59.130 46.251
25 44 Roberto ROLFO SUTER 31'12.472 59.593
26 14 Ratthapark WILAIROT MORIWAKI 31'12.866 59.987
27 18 Nicolas TEROL SUTER 31'13.889 1'01.010
28 80 Esteve RABAT KALEX 30'15.969 1 laps
Not Classified
  76 Max NEUKIRCHNER KALEX 21'40.589 5 laps
  63 Mike DI MEGLIO SPEED UP 14'22.224 9 laps
  10 Marco COLANDREA FTR 11'25.584 11 laps
  82 Elena ROSELL MORIWAKI 7'38.714 13 laps

 

2012
Results and summary of the Moto2 race at Jerez:

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