Oliveira beats Morbidelli for third-successive Moto2 win
Miguel Oliveira eased to KTM’s third successive Moto2 victory ahead of 2017 world champion Franco Morbidelli, while Brad Binder made it two KTMs on the podium in third.
Pole man Alex Marquez took the holeshot at the start despite a raid into the first corner by team–mate Morbidelli, while Mattia Pasini slotted into third.
Morbidelli tried again to overhaul his Marc VDS stablemate at the first corner on lap three, but the Spaniard struck back. However, MotoGP–bound Morbidelli made a move stick at Turn 4.
Now in clear air, Morbidelli proceeded to put two seconds of daylight between himself and Marquez, who locked horns with Pasini over second.
The Italtrans rider did get the upper hand on Marquez, but a crash at Turn 11 on the fourth tour ended his charge and promoted Oliveira up to third. The KTM rider quickly closed down Marquez ahead, and passed him on lap 10 after several failed attempts.
Oliveira began to cut into Morbidelli‘s lead, taking a few tenths away from the Italian each lap, and was just over a second adrift as the race entered its final 10 laps.
Now visibly struggling with grip compared to Oliveira, Morbidelli‘s lead was totally wiped out with seven laps to go, with the Portuguese rider mugging the champion at Turn 4 a lap later.
The KTM rider wasted no time in darting off into the distance, and took the chequered flag 2.1 seconds clear of Morbidelli, while Binder trailed the Italian home by just over two seconds.
2017’s top rookie Francesco Bagnaia prevailed in an early battle with Hafizh Syahrin to close down and pass a struggling Marquez in the closing stages for fourth, while Malaysian Syahrin completed the top six.
Takaaki Nakagami was a distant seventh on his final Moto2 appearance before stepping up to MotoGP with LCR Honda. The Japanese rider headed Fabio Quartararo, Simone Corsi and Dominique Aegerter.
Axel Pons, Isaac Vinales, Marcel Schrotter, Agusto Fernandez and Lorenzo Baldassarri filled up the remaining points paying positions. Pasini rejoined after his early fall and took the chequered flag in 19th.
Xavi Vierge, Sandro Cortese, Jorge Navarro, Tom Luthi’s stand–in Ricard Cardus and Stefan Manzi ended the final race of the campaign prematurely after crashes, while Xavier Simeon was forced out due to his recent hand injury being affected by a chatter issue with his Tasca Racing bike.
British wildcard Jake Dixon was a non-starter after suffering numerous injuries in a fast crash during third practice.