Moto2™: Francesco Bagnaia (SKY Racing Team VR46) blasts clear from stunning podium fight.

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Francesco Bagnaia (SKY Racing Team VR46) strolled to a comfortable fourth victory of the season at the Motul TT Assen after leading from start to finish, eventually taking the checkered flag 1.748 seconds ahead the chasing pack. Catalan GP race winner Fabio Quartararo (Lightech – Speed Up Racing) produced a stunning fight back through the pack to secure his second consecutive podium in P2, beating third place Alex Marquez (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) to the line after Lorenzo Baldassarri (Pons HP40) retired out of second place with a rare puncture on Lap 21 – a cruel blow for the Italian after a brilliant ride.

‘Pecco’ got the perfect launch from pole to grab the holeshot into Turn 1 as the top three on the grid held station, as Danny Kent (Lightech – Speed Up Racing) crashed out of contention at Turn 3 – rider ok. Marcel Schroetter (Dynavolt Intact GP) and Marquez tucked in behind the Italian, with Joan Mir (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) the early hard charger, climbing up to fourth on Lap 1 before getting the better of his teammate a lap later.

Bagnaia’s gap was hovering around the 0.5 second mark for the first half-dozen laps, before the Championship leader pulled the pin to stretch his lead to over a second on lap eight, with Marquez moving his way up to second. After starting 13th, Baldassarri was man on the move, setting the fastest lap of the race on lap eight to reel in Mir, before carving his way past Schroetter and Marquez to slot into second position.

By this point, Bagnaia was looking imperious as the gap crept up to the two second mark, with Baldassarri stretching away from the battle for third. Further down the order, Miguel Oliveira’s (Red Bull KTM Ajo) early race progress to seventh halted, with Quartararo now the rider with scintillating pace. The Frenchman put himself firmly in the podium picture with four laps to go, passing Mir and then quickly made Schroetter his next victim with a sensational pass at Turn 8. Then, heartbreak hit for Baldassarri as the Italian pulled into the pits with a rear tyre puncture with three to go, before Quartararo used his superior edge grip to slice past Marquez at Turn 4 – a sublime move.

In the end though, no one had an answer for the number 42 at the front, with Quartararo and Marquez rounding out the podium. Schroetter was P4 for a second race in a row, beating Mir to the line as the rookie finished fifth. Oliveira salvaged sixth after starting P17, but loses ground in the Championship to Bagnaia heading into Round 9, with teammate Brad Binder recovering to P7 after starting 22nd.

After earning his first Grand Prix front row start, Luca Marini (SKY Racing Team VR46) leaves Assen with a solid eight points under his belt with P8, as Sam Lowes (Swiss Innovative Investors) crossed the line P9 for a second consecutive race. Just behind the Brit was Andrea Locatelli (Italtrans Racing Team), who got the better of teammate Mattia Pasini – the two Italians were P10 and P11 respectively. Augusto Fernandez (Pons HP40) was an impressive 12th at Assen as he looks forward to the rest of the year in the Pons team, with Jorge Navarro (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2), Dominique Aegerter (Kiefer Racing) and Simone Corsi (Tasca Racing Scuderia Moto2) – recovering from the back of the grid – rounding out the point scoring positions.

Xavi Vierge (Dynavolt Intact GP) crashed out of top five contention at Turn 1 with 15 laps to go, with Stefano Manzi (Forward Racing Team) and Romano Fenati (Marinelli Snipers Team) also failing to finish the Dutch GP – with Manzi heading to the medical centre for a checkup.

A commanding weekend for Bagnaia at the ‘Cathedral’ means he takes a 16-point advantage to the German GP over Oliveira, as the intermediate class head towards the mid-point of the season. Will the Championship pendulum swing once again at the Sachsenring? Find out on July 15th.

MOTUL TT ASSEN

Moto2 Race Classification 2018.

Pos.	Points	Num.	Rider	Nation	Team	Bike	Km/h	Time/Gap
1	25	42	Francesco BAGNAIA	ITA	SKY Racing Team VR46	Kalex	165.5	39’30.436
2	20	20	Fabio QUARTARARO	FRA	Lightech – Speed Up Racing	Speed Up	165.4	+1.748
3	16	73	Alex MARQUEZ	SPA	EG 0,0 Marc VDS	Kalex	165.3	+2.179
4	13	23	Marcel SCHROTTER	GER	Dynavolt Intact GP	Kalex	165.2	+4.094
5	11	36	Joan MIR	SPA	EG 0,0 Marc VDS	Kalex	165.2	+4.342
6	10	44	Miguel OLIVEIRA	POR	Red Bull KTM Ajo	KTM	165.1	+5.230
7	9	41	Brad BINDER	RSA	Red Bull KTM Ajo	KTM	164.8	+9.568
8	8	10	Luca MARINI	ITA	SKY Racing Team VR46	Kalex	164.8	+9.960
9	7	22	Sam LOWES	GBR	Swiss Innovative Investors	KTM	164.5	+14.133
10	6	5	Andrea LOCATELLI	ITA	Italtrans Racing Team	Kalex	164.5	+14.332
11	5	54	Mattia PASINI	ITA	Italtrans Racing Team	Kalex	164.2	+18.525
12	4	40	Augusto FERNANDEZ	SPA	Pons HP40	Kalex	164.1	+20.297
13	3	9	Jorge NAVARRO	SPA	Federal Oil Gresini Moto2	Kalex	164.1	+20.867
14	2	77	Dominique AEGERTER	SWI	Kiefer Racing	KTM	163.6	+27.394
15	1	24	Simone CORSI	ITA	Tasca Racing Scuderia Moto2	Kalex	163.5	+28.424
16		27	Iker LECUONA	SPA	Swiss Innovative Investors	KTM	163.5	+28.505
17		64	Bo BENDSNEYDER	NED	Tech 3 Racing	Tech 3	163.6	+28.674
18		87	Remy GARDNER	AUS	Tech 3 Racing	Tech 3	163.5	+28.888
19		89	Khairul Idham PAWI	MAL	IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia	Kalex	163.5	+29.441
20		4	Steven ODENDAAL	RSA	NTS RW Racing GP	NTS	162.8	+39.321
21		16	Joe ROBERTS	USA	NTS RW Racing GP	NTS	162.8	+39.407
22		32	Isaac VIÑALES	SPA	SAG Team	Kalex	162.8	+39.750
23		95	Jules DANILO	FRA	Nashi Argan SAG Team	Kalex	162.2	+48.946
24		51	Eric GRANADO	BRA	Forward Racing Team	Suter	162.2	+48.976
25		21	Federico FULIGNI	ITA	Tasca Racing Scuderia Moto2	Kalex	159.6	+1’27.879
26		7	Lorenzo BALDASSARRI	ITA	Pons HP40	Kalex	158.0	1 Lap

Moto2 World Standing 2018.

Pos.	Rider	Bike	Nation	Points
1	Francesco BAGNAIA	Kalex	ITA	144
2	Miguel OLIVEIRA	KTM	POR	128
3	Alex MARQUEZ	Kalex	SPA	110
4	Lorenzo BALDASSARRI	Kalex	ITA	93
5	Joan MIR	Kalex	SPA	75
6	Xavi VIERGE	Kalex	SPA	70
7	Brad BINDER	KTM	RSA	66
8	Fabio QUARTARARO	Speed Up	FRA	65
9	Mattia PASINI	Kalex	ITA	63
10	Marcel SCHROTTER	Kalex	GER	63
11	Iker LECUONA	KTM	SPA	32
12	Sam LOWES	KTM	GBR	28
13	Luca MARINI	Kalex	ITA	27
14	Andrea LOCATELLI	Kalex	ITA	27
15	Simone CORSI	Kalex	ITA	23
16	Dominique AEGERTER	KTM	SWI	22
17	Jorge NAVARRO	Kalex	SPA	17
18	Remy GARDNER	Tech 3	AUS	15
19	Hector BARBERA	Kalex	SPA	10
20	Romano FENATI	Kalex	ITA	9
21	Isaac VIÑALES	Kalex	SPA	7
22	Stefano MANZI	Suter	ITA	6
23	Augusto FERNANDEZ	Kalex	SPA	6
24	Tetsuta NAGASHIMA	Kalex	JPN	6
25	Danny KENT	Speed Up	GBR	4
26	Joe ROBERTS	NTS	USA	2
27	Steven ODENDAAL	NTS	RSA	1
28	Khairul Idham PAWI	Kalex	MAL	1
29	Bo BENDSNEYDER	Tech 3	NED
30	Edgar PONS	Kalex	SPA
31	Niki TUULI	Kalex	FIN
32	Eric GRANADO	Suter	BRA
33	Jules DANILO	Kalex	FRA
34	Hector GARZO	Tech 3	SPA
35	Lukas TULOVIC	KTM	GER
36	Federico FULIGNI	Kalex	ITA
37	Xavi CARDELUS	Kalex	AND
38	Dimas EKKY PRATAMA	Honda	INA
39	Corentin PEROLARI	Transformiers	FRA
40	Zulfahmi KHAIRUDDIN	Kalex	MAL
41	Cedric TANGRE	Tech 3	FRA

Credits : Photos and content courtesy of motoGP.com

Moto2™: Francesco Bagnaia (SKY Racing Team VR46) blasts clear from stunning podium fight.

2018_ned_moto2_race.middle

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MOTUL TT ASSEN

Moto2 World Standing 2018.

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