2011 Indianapolis 125cc Race Result: Dominant Victory Taken Ahead Of Tight Podium Fight

Results and summary of the 125cc race at Indianapolis:

Nico Terol has seized the initiative in the 125cc championship once again with an utterly dominant win at Indianapolis, extending his lead to 26 points over Johann Zarco. Terol took the lead from pole position, pulled out a second a lap for the first half of the race, and then backed off sufficiently to come home with a very comfortable lead. The 3.633 second margin that Terol held at the end of the race was unrepresentative: the Bankia Aspar rider's lead had been 11 seconds halfway through the race, and early celebrations saw Terol lose over two seconds on the final lap.

With Terol untouchable from the moment the pack hit the back straight on lap 1, the action was concentrated on the fight for 2nd. Johann Zarco, Maverick Viñales and Hector Faubel made the early running, pulling out a gap over the group fighting for 5th, consisting of Sergio Gadea, Sandro Cortese, Efren Vazquez and Danny Kent. Kent was the first rider to disappear, dropping out with engine problems on lap 8, just as the group led by Gadea started to close down Zarco, Viñales and Faubel.

The two groups merged on lap 13, and disaster struck for Zarco.  After losing out to Viñales on the previous lap, a big moment at the start of the straight saw the Frenchman dropped to 6th, and facing a huge points deficit to his championship rival Terol. Zarco recovered some of his composure, but by the time he had done so, the group fighting for 2nd had split into two, and Zarco was on the wrong side of the split. Viñales, Cortese and Gadea had broken away to scrap over 2nd, with Cortese looking like he had the strongest hand. Viñales attacked Cortese several times for 2nd, but Cortese always seemed to find a way to come back again once the young Spaniard got ahead of him. On the final lap, Viñales finally dispensed with Cortese, passing the German on the way into Turn 1, and aided by Sergio Gadea, who seized the opportunity to have a sniff of Cortese's wheel, the Spaniard went on to take 2nd, ahead of Cortese. Gadea ended the race in 4th, while Johann Zarco salvaged a point by draft past his teammate Efren Vazquez along the front straight to finish in 5th.

After the disaster at Brno, where Terol went out with a mechanical failure and Zarco closed the gap to just 12 points, Terol now has a comfortable lead in the championship again, leading the Frenchman by 26 points. But with 6 races left to go, there is still everything to play for in the 125cc class.

Results: