Moto2™ . Lorenzo Baldassarri (Pons HP40) unstoppable in Jerez

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Lorenzo Baldassarri (Pons HP40) rode imperiously to take only his second ever Moto2™ victory at the Gran Premio Red Bull de España, lifting him up to second in the World Championship. Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Ajo) came from P14 on the grid to take a superb second, as Francesco Bagnaia (SKY Racing Team VR46) took the checkered flag in third, keeping him top of the Championship standings – as last year’s race winner Alex Marquez (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) crashed out at Turn 2.

Launching from pole, Baldassarri didn’t get the start he wanted, losing out to Marquez, Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) and Bagnaia as the pack headed into Turn 2. There was drama down at Turn 6 on the opening lap, as Luca Marini (SKY Racing Team VR46) broke too late into the hairpin, collecting Jorge Navarro’s (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2) rear tyre, taking them both down in the process – riders ok. Meanwhile, Oliveira was making up the places after a cracking start, the Portuguese rider up to eighth on the opening lap.

Baldassarri hit the front for the first time on lap three, with Binder, Bagnaia, Marquez and Oliveira in close pursuit. The number 7 then pushed on, creating a small gap between him and second place Binder after setting a new race lap record, with the former Moto3™ World Champion starting to struggle on his KTM.

By lap seven, Oliveira and Marquez were the two keeping the Pons HP40 rider in check, with the three of them slightly gapping Bagnaia, Xavi Vierge (Dynavolt Intact GP), Binder, Mattia Pasini (Italtrans Racing Team) and Romano Fenati (Marinelli Snipers Team) behind. The Italian rookie then crashed at Turn 10 while battling with Pasini, but walked away unhurt.

11 laps in and the front three were still ahead, however disaster then struck for Marquez. Pushing to stay in touch, the Spaniard lost the front at Turn 2, a carbon copy of Marc Marquez’s crash at the same corner.

The brilliant Baldassarri wheelied across the line, with Oliveira and Bagnaia – who held off Vierge – rounding off the podium. Pasini came home in a solid fifth, as Binder had to settle for sixth. Marcel Schrӧtter (Dynavolt Intact GP), with shoulder ligament damage, was a phenomenal seventh, with Sam Lowes (Swiss Innovative Investors), his teammate Iker Lecuona, Fabio Quartararo (Beta Tools – Speed Up Racing), reigning Moto3™ World Champion Joan Mir (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) – who has been suffering from a stomach bug all weekend – and Simone Corsi (Tasca Racing Scuderia Moto2) rounding out the top 12.

The overall standings close right up as we head to Le Mans, as the Moto2™ World Championship shapes up to be a thriller in 2018.

GRAN PREMIO RED BULL DE ESPAÑA

Moto2 Race Classification 2018.

Pos.	Points	Num.	Rider	Nation	Team	Bike	Km/h	Time/Gap
1	25	7	Lorenzo BALDASSARRI	ITA	Pons HP40	Kalex	154.2	39’33.889
2	20	44	Miguel OLIVEIRA	POR	Red Bull KTM Ajo	KTM	154.0	+2.851
3	16	42	Francesco BAGNAIA	ITA	SKY Racing Team VR46	Kalex	153.8	+6.250
4	13	97	Xavi VIERGE	SPA	Dynavolt Intact GP	Kalex	153.8	+6.953
5	11	54	Mattia PASINI	ITA	Italtrans Racing Team	Kalex	153.6	+10.138
6	10	41	Brad BINDER	RSA	Red Bull KTM Ajo	KTM	153.5	+11.731
7	9	23	Marcel SCHROTTER	GER	Dynavolt Intact GP	Kalex	153.1	+18.138
8	8	22	Sam LOWES	GBR	Swiss Innovative Investors	KTM	153.0	+18.677
9	7	27	Iker LECUONA	SPA	Swiss Innovative Investors	KTM	152.9	+20.743
10	6	20	Fabio QUARTARARO	FRA	Beta Tools – Speed Up Racing	Speed Up	152.9	+20.787
11	5	36	Joan MIR	SPA	EG 0,0 Marc VDS	Kalex	152.7	+23.202
12	4	24	Simone CORSI	ITA	Tasca Racing Scuderia Moto2	Kalex	152.7	+23.419
13	3	45	Tetsuta NAGASHIMA	JPN	IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia	Kalex	152.5	+26.132
14	2	40	Hector BARBERA	SPA	Pons HP40	Kalex	152.5	+26.951
15	1	5	Andrea LOCATELLI	ITA	Italtrans Racing Team	Kalex	152.5	+27.121
16		64	Bo BENDSNEYDER	NED	Tech 3 Racing	Tech 3	152.5	+27.377
17		9	Jorge NAVARRO	SPA	Federal Oil Gresini Moto2	Kalex	152.1	+33.193
18		89	Khairul Idham PAWI	MAL	IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia	Kalex	152.1	+33.834
19		32	Isaac VIÑALES	SPA	SAG Team	Kalex	151.4	+44.651
20		3	Lukas TULOVIC	GER	Kiefer Racing	KTM	151.1	+49.048
21		21	Federico FULIGNI	ITA	Tasca Racing Scuderia Moto2	Kalex	151.0	+50.333
22		18	Xavi CARDELUS	AND	Team Stylobike	Kalex	150.9	+53.016
23		14	Hector GARZO	SPA	Tech 3 Racing	Tech 3	150.5	+59.489
24		95	Jules DANILO	FRA	Nashi Argan SAG Team	Kalex	145.2	1 Lap
Not Classified
		4	Steven ODENDAAL	RSA	NTS RW Racing GP	NTS	148.4	2 Laps
		16	Joe ROBERTS	USA	NTS RW Racing GP	NTS	152.3	5 Laps
		73	Alex MARQUEZ	SPA	EG 0,0 Marc VDS	Kalex	153.7	13 Laps
		52	Danny KENT	GBR	Beta Tools – Speed Up Racing	Speed Up	152.1	13 Laps
		63	Zulfahmi KHAIRUDDIN	MAL	SIC Racing Team	Kalex	148.8	14 Laps
		62	Stefano MANZI	ITA	Forward Racing Team	Suter	150.7	15 Laps
		13	Romano FENATI	ITA	Marinelli Snipers Team	Kalex	152.3	17 Laps
		51	Eric GRANADO	BRA	Forward Racing Team	Suter	128.2	21 Laps
Not Finished 1st Lap
		10	Luca MARINI	ITA	SKY Racing Team VR46	Kalex		0 Lap

Moto2 World Standing 2018.

Pos.	Rider	Bike	Nation	Points
1	Francesco BAGNAIA	Kalex	ITA	73
2	Lorenzo BALDASSARRI	Kalex	ITA	64
3	Miguel OLIVEIRA	KTM	POR	63
4	Mattia PASINI	Kalex	ITA	58
5	Alex MARQUEZ	Kalex	SPA	47
6	Xavi VIERGE	Kalex	SPA	41
7	Joan MIR	Kalex	SPA	32
8	Brad BINDER	KTM	RSA	30
9	Marcel SCHROTTER	Kalex	GER	24
10	Iker LECUONA	KTM	SPA	23
11	Dominique AEGERTER	KTM	SWI	16
12	Remy GARDNER	Tech 3	AUS	14
13	Jorge NAVARRO	Kalex	SPA	14
14	Sam LOWES	KTM	GBR	11
15	Luca MARINI	Kalex	ITA	10
16	Simone CORSI	Kalex	ITA	10
17	Fabio QUARTARARO	Speed Up	FRA	7
18	Isaac VIÑALES	Kalex	SPA	7
19	Hector BARBERA	Kalex	SPA	5
20	Danny KENT	Speed Up	GBR	4
21	Andrea LOCATELLI	Kalex	ITA	4
22	Tetsuta NAGASHIMA	Kalex	JPN	3
23	Bo BENDSNEYDER	Tech 3	NED
24	Romano FENATI	Kalex	ITA
25	Steven ODENDAAL	NTS	RSA
26	Khairul Idham PAWI	Kalex	MAL
27	Lukas TULOVIC	KTM	GER
28	Stefano MANZI	Suter	ITA
29	Federico FULIGNI	Kalex	ITA
30	Eric GRANADO	Suter	BRA
31	Xavi CARDELUS	Kalex	AND
32	Joe ROBERTS	NTS	USA
33	Hector GARZO	Tech 3	SPA
34	Jules DANILO	Kalex	FRA
35	Zulfahmi KHAIRUDDIN	Kalex	MAL

Credits : Photos and content courtesy of motoGP.com

Moto2™ . Lorenzo Baldassarri (Pons HP40) unstoppable in Jerez

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GRAN PREMIO RED BULL DE ESPAÑA

Moto2 World Standing 2018.

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