Submitted by Mike Lewis on
Romano Fenati took advantage of a massive, mid-race highside by favorite Aron Canet to win his first Moto2 race of the year Sunday at the Circuit of the Americas. Fenati’s win in the red-flag shortened, 12-lap contest is his second victory in a row at the track near Austin, Texas.
Jorge Martin came out on top of a fierce, six-rider battle to take second, a mere two-hundredths in front of teammate Fabio Di Giannantonio. For Di Giannantonio, the final podium spot marks his best finish of the year.
Enea Bastianini (4th) finished just off the podium but made it a Honda sweep of the top four positions. Nicolo Bulega took fifth as the top KTM just in front of Juanfran Guevara (5th), who also saw his best finish of the year. Conversely, John McPhee had his worst result of 2017 in seventh.
But none of the top-ten finishers likely was more disappointed than Joan Mir. The championship leader and two-time winner began the race second on the grid but was swallowed up by the chasing pack mid-race. He couldn't find his way through the group and settled for eighth, his points lead cut to six points over Martin.
Philipp Oettl (9th) and Darryn Binder (10th) completed the top 10.
Result:
| Pos. | Num. | Rider | Bike | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | Romano FENATI | Honda | 27'15.841 |
| 2 | 88 | Jorge MARTIN | Honda | +4.504 |
| 3 | 21 | Fabio DI GIANNANTONIO | Honda | +4.527 |
| 4 | 33 | Enea BASTIANINI | Honda | +4.673 |
| 5 | 8 | Nicolo BULEGA | KTM | +4.968 |
| 6 | 58 | Juanfran GUEVARA | KTM | +5.618 |
| 7 | 17 | John MCPHEE | Honda | +5.687 |
| 8 | 36 | Joan MIR | Honda | +5.852 |
| 9 | 65 | Philipp OETTL | KTM | +6.594 |
| 10 | 40 | Darryn BINDER | KTM | +12.709 |
| 11 | 19 | Gabriel RODRIGO | KTM | +13.240 |
| 12 | 16 | Andrea MIGNO | KTM | +13.285 |
| 13 | 95 | Jules DANILO | Honda | +13.290 |
| 14 | 23 | Niccolò ANTONELLI | KTM | +13.412 |
| 15 | 11 | Livio LOI | Honda | +13.491 |
| 16 | 42 | Marcos RAMIREZ | KTM | +23.922 |
| 17 | 12 | Marco BEZZECCHI | Mahindra | +24.347 |
| 18 | 71 | Ayumu SASAKI | Honda | +24.650 |
| 19 | 7 | Adam NORRODIN | Honda | +24.795 |
| 20 | 14 | Tony ARBOLINO | Honda | +25.166 |
| 21 | 75 | Albert ARENAS | Mahindra | +26.811 |
| 22 | 6 | Maria HERRERA | KTM | +27.431 |
| 23 | 84 | Jakub KORNFEIL | Peugeot | +37.960 |
| 24 | 41 | Nakarin ATIRATPHUVAPAT | Honda | +41.408 |
| 25 | 96 | Manuel PAGLIANI | Mahindra | +43.789 |
| 26 | 48 | Lorenzo DALLA PORTA | Mahindra | +44.004 |
| 27 | 4 | Patrik PULKKINEN | Peugeot | +51.071 |
| 28 | 18 | Gabriel MARTINEZ-ABREGO | KTM | +51.438 |
| Not Classified | ||||
| 24 | Tatsuki SUZUKI | Honda | 3 Laps | |
| 44 | Aron CANET | Honda | 9 Laps | |
| 27 | Kaito TOBA | Honda | 9 Laps | |
| Not Starting<<<<<<<<<<< | ||||
| 64 | Bo BENDSNEYDER | KTM | 0 Lap |
Comments
Gotta feel for Canet
That was tough luck for Canet, the red flag seemed pretty unnecessary but I guess race direction have to err on the side of caution. I don't think it's right that a rider can trigger a red flag and then be able to restart, the dude crashed out right?
Nice ride by Fenati, really pushed Canet into error. Will be interesting to see how canet goes from here on, you get the feeling that once he can break through for the first win then others will come (if he can learn to keep his cool), a little like Binder going on a rampage last year after Jerez. Fenati... he's a hard one to work out but rode a masterful race today.