Moto2™: Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Ajo) first win for the Austrian factory, and a first win for Portugal

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Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Ajo) was in a class of his own in the Australian GP, taking victory by three seconds – the gap having been as high as six – and crossing the line to take KTM’s first win in Moto2™. The history making continued in second, as teammate Brad Binder took his first ever podium in the intermediate class as his rookie year gains traction following a tough, injury-hit start to the season. Franco Morbidelli (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) took third and protected his title hopes, making good gains in the standings on key rival Tom Lüthi, who had a tough day to come home tenth.

Off the line it was Oliveira who took the holeshot, with polesitter Mattia Pasini (Italtrans Racing Team) losing out and Binder moving up into second. Morbidelli slotted into third, with Dominique Aegerter (Kiefer Racing) moving into fourth. Lüthi got a good start and shot up into sixth, moving around the outside as he attempted to get in the fight at the front.

The pack then started to shuffle, and a crash for Marcel Schrötter (Dynavolt Intact GP) collected Pasini and sent Aegerter wide – as Oliveira started pulling away at the front. Alex Marquez (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) suffered a big moment, and Lüthi began to struggle – as the top trio of Oliveira, Binder and Morbidelli found themselves in clear air. Oliveira had an advantage of six seconds with seven laps to go.

Takaaki Nakagami (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia) was the rider on the charge mid-race, moving up and then into podium contention before passing both Binder and Morbidelli. The South African and the Italian exchanged some tough passes and spectacular moves, before then the rain flag came out near the end of the race and Nakagami slid out ahead of the duo. Oliveira crossed the line almost three seconds clear, with Binder setting the fastest lap on the penultimate lap to take second and Morbidelli a safe third.

Jesko Raffin (Garage Plus Interwetten) put in an impressive performance for fourth, ahead of another top ride from Motegi podium finisher Xavi Vierge (Tech 3 Racing). Alex Marquez recovered from his moment early in the race to pull clear of a number of riders and take sixth, ahead of Simone Corsi (Speed Up Racing), Aegerter, a solid ride from Sandro Cortese (Dynavolt Intact GP) and Lüthi.

Axel Pons (RW Racing GP), Francesco Bagnaia and teammate Stefano Manzi (Sky Racing Team VR46), Lorenzo Baldassarri (Forward Racing Team) – despite dislocating his shoulder on Saturday – and home hero Remy Gardner (Tech 3 Racing) completed the points.

The advantage is now 29 points for Morbidelli at the top, giving him his first shot at the title at Sepang International Circuit, which is up next.

MICHELIN® AUSTRALIAN MOTORCYCLE GRAND PRIX

Moto2 Race Classification 2017.

Pos.	Points	Num.	Rider	Nation	Team	Bike	Km/h	Time/Gap
1	25	44	Miguel OLIVEIRA	POR	Red Bull KTM Ajo	KTM	169.2	39’25.920
2	20	41	Brad BINDER	RSA	Red Bull KTM Ajo	KTM	168.9	+2.974
3	16	21	Franco MORBIDELLI	ITA	EG 0,0 Marc VDS	Kalex	168.9	+3.846
4	13	2	Jesko RAFFIN	SWI	Garage Plus Interwetten	Kalex	168.6	+7.348
5	11	97	Xavi VIERGE	SPA	Tech 3 Racing	Tech 3	168.6	+7.403
6	10	73	Alex MARQUEZ	SPA	EG 0,0 Marc VDS	Kalex	168.3	+12.125
7	9	24	Simone CORSI	ITA	Speed Up Racing	Speed Up	168.3	+12.217
8	8	77	Dominique AEGERTER	SWI	Kiefer Racing	Suter	168.3	+12.244
9	7	11	Sandro CORTESE	GER	Dynavolt Intact GP	Suter	168.3	+12.475
10	6	12	Thomas LUTHI	SWI	CarXpert Interwetten	Kalex	168.3	+12.605
11	5	49	Axel PONS	SPA	RW Racing GP	Kalex	168.2	+12.971
12	4	42	Francesco BAGNAIA	ITA	SKY Racing Team VR46	Kalex	167.7	+20.887
13	3	62	Stefano MANZI	ITA	SKY Racing Team VR46	Kalex	167.1	+28.821
14	2	7	Lorenzo BALDASSARRI	ITA	Forward Racing Team	Kalex	166.9	+31.214
15	1	87	Remy GARDNER	AUS	Tech 3 Racing	Tech 3	166.7	+34.678
16		55	Hafizh SYAHRIN	MAL	Petronas Raceline Malaysia	Kalex	166.7	+34.911
17		37	Augusto FERNANDEZ	SPA	Speed Up Racing	Speed Up	166.6	+35.694
18		45	Tetsuta NAGASHIMA	JPN	Teluru SAG Team	Kalex	165.2	+56.487
19		32	Isaac VIÑALES	SPA	BE-A-VIP SAG Team	Kalex	165.2	+56.528
20		27	Iker LECUONA	SPA	Garage Plus Interwetten	Kalex	165.2	+56.550
21		89	Khairul Idham PAWI	MAL	IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia	Kalex	165.1	+57.548
22		6	Tarran MACKENZIE	GBR	Kiefer Racing	Suter	164.9	+1’01.191
23		10	Luca MARINI	ITA	Forward Racing Team	Kalex	162.3	+1’39.824
Not Classified
		30	Takaaki NAKAGAMI	JPN	IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia	Kalex	168.9	2 Laps
		57	Edgar PONS	SPA	Pons HP40	Kalex	162.4	2 Laps
		40	Fabio QUARTARARO	FRA	Pons HP40	Kalex	164.1	20 Laps
		5	Andrea LOCATELLI	ITA	Italtrans Racing Team	Kalex	161.2	23 Laps
		9	Jorge NAVARRO	SPA	Federal Oil Gresini Moto2	Kalex	158.9	23 Laps
		23	Marcel SCHROTTER	GER	Dynavolt Intact GP	Suter	157.5	24 Laps
		54	Mattia PASINI	ITA	Italtrans Racing Team	Kalex	157.3	24 Laps

Moto2 World Standing 2017.

Pos.	Rider	Bike	Nation	Points
1	Franco MORBIDELLI	Kalex	ITA	272
2	Thomas LUTHI	Kalex	SWI	243
3	Miguel OLIVEIRA	KTM	POR	191
4	Alex MARQUEZ	Kalex	SPA	190
5	Francesco BAGNAIA	Kalex	ITA	150
6	Mattia PASINI	Kalex	ITA	135
7	Takaaki NAKAGAMI	Kalex	JPN	128
8	Simone CORSI	Speed Up	ITA	105
9	Xavi VIERGE	Tech 3	SPA	90
10	Brad BINDER	KTM	RSA	89
11	Hafizh SYAHRIN	Kalex	MAL	86
12	Dominique AEGERTER	Suter	SWI	82
13	Jorge NAVARRO	Kalex	SPA	60
14	Luca MARINI	Kalex	ITA	59
15	Lorenzo BALDASSARRI	Kalex	ITA	50
16	Fabio QUARTARARO	Kalex	FRA	47
17	Marcel SCHROTTER	Suter	GER	47
18	Sandro CORTESE	Suter	GER	43
19	Jesko RAFFIN	Kalex	SWI	25
20	Remy GARDNER	Tech 3	AUS	23
21	Axel PONS	Kalex	SPA	22
22	Xavier SIMEON	Kalex	BEL	16
23	Yonny HERNANDEZ	Kalex	COL	16
24	Stefano MANZI	Kalex	ITA	14
25	Khairul Idham PAWI	Kalex	MAL	10
26	Tetsuta NAGASHIMA	Kalex	JPN	8
27	Isaac VIÑALES	Kalex	SPA	7
28	Ricard CARDUS	KTM	SPA	7
29	Joe ROBERTS	Kalex	USA	6
30	Alex DE ANGELIS	Suter	RSM	5
31	Andrea LOCATELLI	Kalex	ITA	5
32	Danny KENT	Suter	GBR	3
33	Edgar PONS	Kalex	SPA	2
34	Ikuhiro ENOKIDO	Kalex	JPN	2
35	Tarran MACKENZIE	Suter	GBR	1
36	Federico FULIGNI	Kalex	ITA	1
37	Augusto FERNANDEZ	Speed Up	SPA
38	Iker LECUONA	Kalex	SPA
39	Julian SIMON	Kalex	SPA
40	Ryo MIZUNO	Kalex	JPN
41	Karel HANIKA	Kalex	CZE
42	Axel BASSANI	Speed Up	ITA
43	Steven ODENDAAL	NTS	RSA
44	Jake DIXON	Suter	GBR

Credits : Photos and content courtesy of Motogp.com

Moto2™: Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Ajo) first win for the Austrian factory, and a first win for Portugal

3003_16_2017_aus_mo2_race_hl.middle

MICHELIN® AUSTRALIAN MOTORCYCLE GRAND PRIX

Moto2 World Standing 2017.

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