---
title: "Zarco cruises to second world championship"
canonical: "https://readmotorsport.com/2016/10/30/zarco-cruises-to-second-world-championship/"
type: "post"
language: "en-GB"
author: "Lewis Duncan"
section: "Moto2"
published: "2016-10-30T06:40:34Z"
modified: "2016-10-30T06:41:02Z"
---

# Zarco cruises to second world championship

Ajo Motorsport’s Johann Zarco clinched his second successive Moto2 World Championship after dominating at a damp Sepang International Circuit for victory.

The French rider only needed three more points than Interwetten’s Tom Luthi to secure the title, but Zarco wasn’t hanging around. A tentative start saw him shuffled back to third on the opening lap, whilst Luthi was dropped to seventh.

Zarco moved into second at Turn 9 on the following lap, clinically overtaking Jonas Folger. The French rider then began his chase of race leader Franco Morbidelli, the Italian having moved into first on the opening lap at Turn 4.

Morbidelli was thrown a few warnings with several moments on the front and rear-end of his Marc VDS Kalex in the tricky conditions, this allowing Zarco to reel the Italian in. The Ajo Motorsport rider just bided his time behind the Italian and waited until the safest opportunity arose to make his move.

Zarco took the lead with six laps remaining at Turn 4, and with the track now in a similar condition to that in qualifying when he stormed to pole by over two seconds the Frenchman was in his element. In just three laps he’d extended his advantage to well over three seconds, setting the fastest lap of the race, a 2m21.484s, on his penultimate tour.

Behind, Morbidelli and Folger traded blows in their battle for second. Folger disposed of the Italian four laps from home, but a mistake at Turn 7 with two laps to go allowed Morbidelli back past and put up a stubborn defence that could not be toppled by the German rider.

Zarco cruised across the line to become the first rider in Moto2 history to successfully defend their world championship, and the first rider in the intermediate class to win two titles since Jorge Lorenzo won his second 250cc championship back in 2007.

Forward Racing’s Lorenzo Baldassarri put in another strong ride in difficult positions to take fourth place ahead of home hero Hafizh Syahrin. Luthi’s championship charge never really got off the ground today, the Swiss rider stuck in the battle for fifth for much of the 19-lap Grand Prix. Alex Marquez, Xavi Vierge, Luca Marini and Isaac Vinales completed the top 10.

Simone Corsi was just outside the top 10 in 11th on his Speed Up machine, with Malaysian wild-card Ramdan Rosli a superb 12th on just his fifth Grand Prix appearance. Remy Gardner recovered from a poor start to take 13th, whilst Alex Rins’ championship challenge ended in disappointing fashion in 14th. Xavier Simeon completed the points paying positions, the Belgian dropping like a stone through the field mid-race as he chewed through his wet rubber.

Britain’s Sam Lowes’ race didn’t last long. The Gresini rider would’ve fancied his chances in the iffy conditions after finishing third at a wet Brno, but a crash on lap two at Turn 9 ended his chances whilst he was running inside the top 10. Axel Pons, who was running fourth in the early laps, Robin Mulhauser and Alessandro Nocco joined the Briton the sidelines.

![2016-10-30](https://media.readmotorsport.com/readmotorsport/2016/10/2016-10-30.png)