Just when it looked as if Franco Morbidelli (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) had the title in the palm of his hand, Brno happened. Thomas Luthi (CarXpert Interwetten) took the victory with a five second gap from Alex Marquez (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) and Morbidelli finished eighth behind Francesco Bagnaia (Sky Racing Team VR46), in changeable conditions that saw the red flag come out and the race restart.
Luthi’s victory allowed him to sneak up behind Morbidelli in the standings, and now only seventeen points separate the pair. Morbidelli finished last year’s Austrian GP in second, with 2016 Moto2 World Champion Johann Zarco the only one who could better him. The Marc VDS rider needs to seek victory in this weekend’s race, and needs to keep Luthi behind him if he wants to be in with a chance of securing the title.
Alex Marquez and Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Ajo) sit level on one hundred and thirty three points in third place. Neither are out of title contention yet, and are both getting stronger as the rounds go on. Marquez has won two races this season and it’s just a matter of time before Oliveira takes a win for himself. And a win for the Portugese rider couldn’t come at a better time than this weekend at KTM’s home round.
Bagnaia is by far the rookie of the year in the Moto2 class. He’s had an incredible run of results so far and quite honestly, a win isn’t far away for him either. Mattia Pasini (Italtrans Racing Team) won his home race in Mugello back in June, but hasn’t managed another win since. He sits in sixth overall on seventy three points, and will be aiming to use the Red Bull Ring to his advantage to make up some points to Bagnaia in fifth.
Moto2 will kick off tomorrow at 10:55am.
