Moto2™: Francesco Bagnaia (SKY Racing Team VR46) takes maiden win as Bagnaia is crowned Champion

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Francesco Bagnaia (SKY Racing Team VR46) clinched the 2018 Moto2™ World Championship at the Shell Malaysia Motorcycle Grand Prix after finishing P3 at Sepang. The Italian finished behind title rival Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Ajo) to seal the title, with teammate Luca Marini making it a memorable day for SKY Racing Team VR46 as he secured his maiden Grand Prix victory.

As the lights went out, both the main riders in the Championship got off to a flyer. However Marini it was who led coming out of Turn 1 after a messy opening corner for his fellow front row starters; Fabio Quartararo (MB Conveyors – Speed Up) and Alex Marquez (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) both running in hot. This allowed Bagnaia and Oliveira to slip through up the inside to get into P2 and P3. Pretty much the perfect getaway for ‘Pecco’, who slotted in behind teammate Marini.

Marini then got himself into a rhythm at the front, with Bagnaia and Oliveira battling away for P2 – the title firmly in Bagnaia’s hands at this early stage of the race, even with Oliveira making a pass stick at Turn 4 with 12 laps to go. The Portuguese rider locked his radar on race leader Marini, who now had a second lead, with Bagnaia slipping into the clutches of compatriot Mattia Pasini (Italtrans Racing Team), with pole sitter Marquez and Lorenzo Baldassarri (Pons HP40) also in hot pursuit of the Championship leader.

Oliveira had reeled in Marini 11 laps remaining, with a win for the KTM rider enough to take the title chase down to Valencia if Bagnaia dropped below the podium positions. With six laps to go, it seemed the battle for the win was between Marini and Oliveira, with both Baldassarri and Marquez losing touch in the battle for the final podium spot – Pasini though remained 0.4 behind countryman Bagnaia.

In sweltering Sepang conditions, Marini was being made to sweat by Oliveira as he continued to look strong for a first Grand Prix win. But the Italian was on rails as he soaked up the pressure from the KTM behind and with two laps to go, a 0.7 gap had appeared. Going into the final lap, Marini had the biggest lead he’d had for a while, with Bagnaia sitting comfortably in a Championship clinching P3 – over a second was the cushion back to Pasini.

As the chequered flag was waved it was double delight for SKY Racing Team VR46 as Marini took a magnificent maiden Grand Prix victory, with Bagnaia coming home third to seal the 2018 Moto2™ World Championship. Oliveira didn’t go down without a fight as he took P2 at the Sepang International Circuit – his 11th podium of the season.

Pasini crossed the line in P4, with Quartararo rounding out the top five after getting the better of sixth place Baldassarri and seventh place Marquez in the latter stages. Australian GP winner Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) took P8 in Malaysia, with Marcel Schrotter (Dynavolt Intact GP) and Joan Mir (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) rounding out the top ten in P9 and P10 respectively.

Iker Lecuona (Swiss Innovative Investors), Xavi Cardelus (Marinelli Snipers Team), Remy Gardner (Tech 3 Racing), Tetsuta Nagashima (Idemistu Honda Team Asia), Niki Tuuli (Petronas Sprinta Racing) and Augusto Fernandez (Pons HP40) crashed out.

Just like the lightweight class, the 2018 intermediate class crown was decided in Malaysia and it went the way of ‘Pecco’. A stunning season for the Italian, with teammate Marini continuing his fantastic 2018.

SHELL MALAYSIA MOTORCYCLE GRAND PRIX

Moto2 Race Classification 2018.

Pos.	Points	Num.	Rider	Nation	Team	Bike	Km/h	Time/Gap
1	25	10	Luca MARINI	ITA	SKY Racing Team VR46	Kalex	155.7	38’25.689
2	20	44	Miguel OLIVEIRA	POR	Red Bull KTM Ajo	KTM	155.7	+1.194
3	16	42	Francesco BAGNAIA	ITA	SKY Racing Team VR46	Kalex	155.5	+3.020
4	13	54	Mattia PASINI	ITA	Italtrans Racing Team	Kalex	155.4	+4.497
5	11	20	Fabio QUARTARARO	FRA	MB Conveyors – Speed Up	Speed Up	155.4	+5.250
6	10	7	Lorenzo BALDASSARRI	ITA	Pons HP40	Kalex	155.4	+5.305
7	9	73	Alex MARQUEZ	SPA	EG 0,0 Marc VDS	Kalex	155.2	+7.690
8	8	41	Brad BINDER	RSA	Red Bull KTM Ajo	KTM	155.1	+8.943
9	7	23	Marcel SCHROTTER	GER	Dynavolt Intact GP	Kalex	155.1	+9.687
10	6	36	Joan MIR	SPA	EG 0,0 Marc VDS	Kalex	154.5	+18.547
11	5	97	Xavi VIERGE	SPA	Dynavolt Intact GP	Kalex	154.5	+18.816
12	4	5	Andrea LOCATELLI	ITA	Italtrans Racing Team	Kalex	154.4	+19.739
13	3	9	Jorge NAVARRO	SPA	Federal Oil Gresini Moto2	Kalex	154.3	+21.177
14	2	77	Dominique AEGERTER	SWI	Kiefer Racing	KTM	154.3	+21.960
15	1	22	Sam LOWES	GBR	Swiss Innovative Investors	KTM	153.9	+26.875
16		24	Simone CORSI	ITA	Tasca Racing Scuderia Moto2	Kalex	153.8	+28.515
17		89	Khairul Idham PAWI	MAL	IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia	Kalex	153.8	+28.802
18		16	Joe ROBERTS	USA	NTS RW Racing GP	NTS	153.7	+29.791
19		2	Jesko RAFFIN	SWI	SAG Team	Kalex	153.7	+30.557
20		57	Edgar PONS	SPA	MB Conveyors – Speed Up	Speed Up	153.7	+31.069
21		4	Steven ODENDAAL	RSA	NTS RW Racing GP	NTS	153.2	+38.430
22		95	Jules DANILO	FRA	Nashi Argan SAG Team	Kalex	152.9	+42.930
23		30	Dimas EKKY PRATAMA	INA	Tech 3 Racing	Tech 3	151.9	+57.507
24		32	Isaac VIÑALES	SPA	Forward Racing Team	Suter	151.9	+57.910
25		21	Federico FULIGNI	ITA	Tasca Racing Scuderia Moto2	Kalex	151.5	+1’03.737
26		50	Rafid Topan SUCIPTO	INA	Forward Racing Team	Suter	147.8	+2’04.066
Not Classified
		40	Augusto FERNANDEZ	SPA	Pons HP40	Kalex	154.8	10 Laps
		66	Niki TUULI	FIN	Petronas Sprinta Racing	Kalex	152.3	11 Laps
		45	Tetsuta NAGASHIMA	JPN	IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia	Kalex	137.9	11 Laps
		87	Remy GARDNER	AUS	Tech 3 Racing	Tech 3	145.7	13 Laps
		18	Xavi CARDELUS	AND	Marinelli Snipers Team	Kalex	138.0	13 Laps
		27	Iker LECUONA	SPA	Swiss Innovative Investors	KTM	121.7	16 Laps

Moto2 World Standing 2018.

Pos.	Rider	Bike	Nation	Points
1	Francesco BAGNAIA	Kalex	ITA	304
2	Miguel OLIVEIRA	KTM	POR	272
3	Brad BINDER	KTM	RSA	201
4	Lorenzo BALDASSARRI	Kalex	ITA	162
5	Alex MARQUEZ	Kalex	SPA	157
6	Joan MIR	Kalex	SPA	155
7	Luca MARINI	Kalex	ITA	147
8	Marcel SCHROTTER	Kalex	GER	138
9	Xavi VIERGE	Kalex	SPA	131
10	Fabio QUARTARARO	Speed Up	FRA	128
11	Mattia PASINI	Kalex	ITA	128
12	Iker LECUONA	KTM	SPA	60
13	Jorge NAVARRO	Kalex	SPA	58
14	Sam LOWES	KTM	GBR	49
15	Simone CORSI	Kalex	ITA	47
16	Andrea LOCATELLI	Kalex	ITA	45
17	Dominique AEGERTER	KTM	SWI	42
18	Augusto FERNANDEZ	Kalex	SPA	37
19	Remy GARDNER	Tech 3	AUS	29
20	Tetsuta NAGASHIMA	Kalex	JPN	23
21	Romano FENATI	Kalex	ITA	14
22	Hector BARBERA	Kalex	SPA	10
23	Jesko RAFFIN	Kalex	SWI	9
24	Stefano MANZI	Suter	ITA	8
25	Danny KENT	Speed Up	GBR	8
26	Isaac VIÑALES	Suter	SPA	7
27	Joe ROBERTS	NTS	USA	5
28	Bo BENDSNEYDER	Tech 3	NED	2
29	Khairul Idham PAWI	Kalex	MAL	1
30	Edgar PONS	Speed Up	SPA	1
31	Steven ODENDAAL	NTS	RSA	1
32	Niki TUULI	Kalex	FIN	1
33	Thitipong WAROKORN	Kalex	THA
34	Eric GRANADO	Suter	BRA
35	Jules DANILO	Kalex	FRA
36	Hector GARZO	Tech 3	SPA
37	Lukas TULOVIC	KTM	GER
38	Federico FULIGNI	Kalex	ITA
39	Bryan STARING	Tech 3	AUS
40	Xavi CARDELUS	Kalex	AND
41	Dimas EKKY PRATAMA	Tech 3	INA
42	Alejandro MEDINA	Kalex	SPA
43	Sheridan MORAIS	Kalex	POR
44	Corentin PEROLARI	Transformiers	FRA
45	Zulfahmi KHAIRUDDIN	Kalex	MAL
46	Rafid Topan SUCIPTO	Suter	INA
47	Cedric TANGRE	Tech 3	FRA

Credits : Photos and content courtesy of motogp.com

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