Moto2™ – Tom Lüthi (Dynavolt Intact GP) wins in Circuit of the Americas

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Tom Lüthi (Dynavolt Intact GP) put in an outstanding Texas ride to take Moto2™ victory at the Red Bull Grand Prix of the Americas, the Swiss rider leading a Dynavolt Intact GP 1-2 as Marcel Schrötter crossed the line second as Jorge Navarro (Beta Tools Speed Up) completed the podium.

There was drama right from the off and it was disaster for home hero Joe Roberts (American Racing KTM). The American and Fabio Di Giannantonio (Beta Tools Speed Up) got tangled together heading up the hill into Turn 1, the pair then slamming into the helpless Xavi Vierge (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) as the trio crashed out in a scary looking incident. Thankfully all riders were ok and, in the meantime, Schrötter had got the perfect launch from pole but ran it wide into Turn 1, allowing Alex Marquez (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) and teammate Lüthi to slip through.

The Lap 1 drama wasn’t done there though. Double race winner and Championship leader Lorenzo Baldassarri (FlexBox HP 40) wouldn’t make it past Turn 10 after hitting the back of Jorge Martin (Red Bull KTM Ajo), the reigning Moto3™ World Champion getting out of shape on the exit of Turn 9 with Baldassarri unable to avoid contact.

With the Championship leader out, it was a great opportunity for the likes of Marquez, Lüthi and Schrötter to reel in some points on the Italian – and it was this exact trio who took a stranglehold on the race, with Sam Lowes (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2) and Navarro just over two seconds back in fourth and fifth.

Lüthi and Marquez were nibbling at each other for several laps before the Swiss rider made a move stick at Turn 11 on Lap 8, this coming half a lap after the leaders made slight contact at Turn 1. Lüthi then put the hammer down and a lap later his lead over Marquez was stretched out to a full second, his teammate Schrötter 1.7 back. The men in second and third then came into contact on Lap 11 on the exit of Turn 11, both lucky to stay on, with Schrötter eventually getting the better of Marquez by the end of the lap. But the gap to Lüthi now sat at over two seconds, with fourth place Navarro now just 1.3 off Marquez.

With six laps remaining, Lüthi’s lead was up to 2.5 seconds over his teammate, with the German rider and Marquez slipping back into the clutches of the hard-charging Speed Up machine of Navarro – the battle for second really hotting up, with Luca Marini (SKY Racing Team VR46) less than a second back from the trio in fifth.

Marquez then started to suffer, seemingly with tyre issues, which allowed Navarro to eventually move up to third with himself, Marquez and Marini all locking horns. However, replacement rider Mattia Pasini (FlexBox HP 40) – an impressive performer throughout the weekend – was closing in on the podium scrap, and the Italian would get the better of both Marquez and Marini with two laps to go.

Meanwhile, Lüthi would cruise around the last lap to earn his first Grand Prix win since the 2017 San Marino GP in stunning style, with Schrötter making it a Dynavolt Intact GP 1-2 finish in Texas. Navarro held on for his maiden Moto2™ podium – his first since Aragon 2016 in the Moto3™ class – with Pasini producing a phenomenal effort to come home fourth on his first ride with a Triumph Moto2™ engine. Marquez held on for fifth, with Marini fending off Lowes on the last lap as the Kalex duo took the chequered flag in P6 and P7 respectively.

Simone Corsi (Tasca Racing Scuderia Moto2) wasn’t far off that particular scrap in P8, a great top ten finish for the veteran Italian, with compatriot Enea Bastianini (Italtrans Racing Team) taking top rookie honours in P9 – his third consecutive ninth place finish. Fellow Italtrans Racing Team rider Andrea Locatelli completed the top ten, he led Argentina GP rostrum finisher Remy Gardner (ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team) in P11 as his teammate Tetsuta Nagashima, Bo Bendsneyder (NTS RW Racing GP), Dominique Aegerter (MV Agusta Idealavoro Forward) and Martin completed the points – Aegerter picking up MV’s first points on their return to GP racing.

Brad Binder’s (Red Bull KTM Ajo) title aspirations took a dent after the South African pulled in at the end of Lap 2 with a clutch problem. Marco Bezzecchi (Red Bull KTM Tech 3) crashed out of Turn 1 while on course for his first Moto2™ points, with Iker Lecuona (American Racing KTM) crashed late on at Turn 12.

After a Moto2™ Texas rodeo, Baldassarri’s rivals have closed the gap the Championship. The Italian’s lead is now just three points over Schrötter, with Lüthi a further two behind his teammate. We now head to Jerez to start our 2019 European tour, what’s in store in southern Spain for the intermediate class?

RED BULL GRAND PRIX OF THE AMERICAS

Moto2 Race Classification 2019.

Pos.	Points	Num.	Rider	Nation	Team	Bike	Km/h	Time/Gap
1	25	12	Thomas LUTHI	SWI	Dynavolt Intact GP	Kalex	151.9	39’11.508
2	20	23	Marcel SCHROTTER	GER	Dynavolt Intact GP	Kalex	151.7	+2.532
3	16	9	Jorge NAVARRO	SPA	Beta Tools Speed Up	Speed Up	151.6	+3.836
4	13	54	Mattia PASINI	ITA	Flexbox HP 40	Kalex	151.6	+4.757
5	11	73	Alex MARQUEZ	SPA	EG 0,0 Marc VDS	Kalex	151.4	+7.741
6	10	10	Luca MARINI	ITA	SKY Racing Team VR46	Kalex	151.4	+8.031
7	9	22	Sam LOWES	GBR	Federal Oil Gresini Moto2	Kalex	151.3	+8.282
8	8	24	Simone CORSI	ITA	Tasca Racing Scuderia Moto2	Kalex	151.3	+8.953
9	7	33	Enea BASTIANINI	ITA	Italtrans Racing Team	Kalex	151.2	+10.706
10	6	5	Andrea LOCATELLI	ITA	Italtrans Racing Team	Kalex	150.8	+16.868
11	5	87	Remy GARDNER	AUS	ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team	Kalex	150.2	+25.633
12	4	45	Tetsuta NAGASHIMA	JPN	ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team	Kalex	150.2	+25.948
13	3	64	Bo BENDSNEYDER	NED	NTS RW Racing GP	NTS	150.1	+26.997
14	2	77	Dominique AEGERTER	SWI	MV Agusta Idealavoro Forward	MV Agusta	150.1	+27.462
15	1	88	Jorge MARTIN	SPA	Red Bull KTM Ajo	KTM	150.1	+27.482
16		2	Jesko RAFFIN	SWI	NTS RW Racing GP	NTS	149.4	+39.435
17		89	Khairul Idham PAWI	MAL	Petronas Sprinta Racing	Kalex	148.7	+49.582
18		65	Philipp OETTL	GER	Red Bull KTM Tech 3	KTM	148.6	+51.247
19		3	Lukas TULOVIC	GER	Kiefer Racing	KTM	148.6	+51.380
20		35	Somkiat CHANTRA	THA	IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia	Kalex	148.5	+53.778
21		6	Gabriele RUIU	ITA	MV Agusta Idealavoro Forward	MV Agusta	146.9	+1’19.156
22		20	Dimas EKKY PRATAMA	INA	IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia	Kalex	146.9	+1’19.286
Not Classified
		27	Iker LECUONA	SPA	American Racing KTM	KTM	151.0	5 Laps
		72	Marco BEZZECCHI	ITA	Red Bull KTM Tech 3	KTM	143.0	6 Laps
		18	Xavi CARDELUS	AND	Sama Qatar Angel Nieto Team	KTM	142.4	12 Laps
		41	Brad BINDER	RSA	Red Bull KTM Ajo	KTM	131.5	16 Laps
Not Finished 1st Lap
		21	Fabio DI GIANNANTONIO	ITA	Beta Tools Speed Up	Speed Up		0 Lap
		7	Lorenzo BALDASSARRI	ITA	Flexbox HP 40	Kalex		0 Lap
		97	Xavi VIERGE	SPA	EG 0,0 Marc VDS	Kalex		0 Lap
		16	Joe ROBERTS	USA	American Racing KTM	KTM		0 Lap

Moto2 World Standing 2019.

Pos.	Rider	Bike	Nation	Points
1	Lorenzo BALDASSARRI	Kalex	ITA	50
2	Marcel SCHROTTER	Kalex	GER	47
3	Thomas LUTHI	Kalex	SWI	45
4	Remy GARDNER	Kalex	AUS	38
5	Alex MARQUEZ	Kalex	SPA	36
6	Luca MARINI	Kalex	ITA	27
7	Jorge NAVARRO	Speed Up	SPA	24
8	Enea BASTIANINI	Kalex	ITA	21
9	Sam LOWES	Kalex	GBR	19
10	Brad BINDER	KTM	RSA	14
11	Andrea LOCATELLI	Kalex	ITA	14
12	Iker LECUONA	KTM	SPA	13
13	Mattia PASINI	Kalex	ITA	13
14	Augusto FERNANDEZ	Kalex	SPA	11
15	Simone CORSI	Kalex	ITA	8
16	Tetsuta NAGASHIMA	Kalex	JPN	8
17	Somkiat CHANTRA	Kalex	THA	6
18	Xavi VIERGE	Kalex	SPA	6
19	Fabio DI GIANNANTONIO	Speed Up	ITA	5
20	Bo BENDSNEYDER	NTS	NED	5
21	Khairul Idham PAWI	Kalex	MAL	3
22	Jesko RAFFIN	NTS	SWI	3
23	Dominique AEGERTER	MV Agusta	SWI	2
24	Jorge MARTIN	KTM	SPA	2
25	Marco BEZZECCHI	KTM	ITA
26	Jake DIXON	KTM	GBR
27	Lukas TULOVIC	KTM	GER
28	Philipp OETTL	KTM	GER
29	Stefano MANZI	MV Agusta	ITA
30	Xavi CARDELUS	KTM	AND
31	Gabriele RUIU	MV Agusta	ITA
32	Joe ROBERTS	KTM	USA
33	Dimas EKKY PRATAMA	Kalex	INA

Credits : Photos and content courtesy of MotoGP.com

Moto2™ – Tom Lüthi (Dynavolt Intact GP) wins in Circuit of the Americas

_dsc1063.small

73-alex-marquez-esp_dsc0670.small

12-thom-luthi-sui_dsc8244.small

RED BULL GRAND PRIX OF THE AMERICAS

Moto2 World Standing 2019.

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