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MotoGP

Aegerter rises to the challenge as championship leader Morbidelli falls

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Dominique Aegerter rose to the challenging conditions to take his second ever Grand Prix victory over Thomas Luthi and Hafizh Syahrin, as championship leader Franco Morbidelli bowed out with twenty three laps to go, just after setting the fastest lap of the race.

Mattia Pasini took pole position, but was shunted back when Morbidelli got a stronger start off the line. He soon recovered up to third and was looking like a firm contender for the win, until he crashed just two laps in, bringing his home race to an abrupt end. He wasn't alone at his turn four crash, as fellow Italian Lorenzo Baldassari crashes almost in sympathy with Pasini at the same corner, with no contact between the two.

After Morbidelli was out, it was just a case of keeping cool for Aegerter but he was constantly coming under threat from Luthi in the worsening conditions. Not too far behind was Syahrin, who was fighting the wet weather to bring home his first podium since 2012. And that's exactly how it ended, with Aegerter sailing over the line and Luthi settling for second to bring the points defecit in the overall standings down to nine behind Morbidelli. An understandably emotion Syahrin crossed the line in third.

Miguel Oliveira had looked strong all weekend, but fell victim to the fast turn fifteen within the first ten laps. Much like Moto3, only sixteen riders crossed the line over the checkered flag, with an unfortunate Luca Marini not even making it around the first lap.

Morbidelli will be out to make amends in Aragon in two weeks time, as Luthi becoming the leader of the overall standings becomes ever more likely.

Top ten:

  1. Dominique Aegerter (Kiefer Racing) - 51:39.709
  2. Thomas Luthi (CarXpert Interwetten +1.400
  3. Hafizh Syahrin (Petronas Raceline Malaysia) +7.875
  4. Francesco Bagnaia (Sky Racing Team VR46) +21.223
  5. Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) +23.849
  6. Sandro Cortese (Dynavolt Intact GP) +41.421
  7. Fabio Quartararo (Pons HP40) +43.107
  8. Simone Corsi (Speed UP Racing) +56.926
  9. Khairul Idham Pawi (IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia) +1:01.495
  10. Jesko Raffin (Garage Plus Interwetten) +1:20.192
Rating:
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