Thrilling Moto2 race sees Rins take first win

Aug 9, 2015
3 min read

Spaniard Alex Rins took his first victory in the class after starting on pole and battling back through the field after numerous position changes throughout the top 10.

Similar to Moto3, the rain fell between the conclusion of the Moto3 race and the start of Moto2 but dried sufficiently for all riders to change to slicks before the lights went out. Defending champion Tito Rabat made a great start from second and took the lead into turn 1 but an even better start from Julian Simon who rocketed from 17th to 3rd on the first lap. However, that was not the end of the position changes on lap 1 as Hafizh Syahrin took a shock lead before pole sitter Rins got back through but then Syahrin re-took the lead to cross the line at the end of the first lap out front.

The continuous changes carried on through lap 2 with Simon leading, Aegerter up to third and then Lowes taking to the front. Meanwhile, championship leader Johann Zarco sat a relatively comfortable 6th whilst title rival Rabat dropped down to 11th. Simon's great start was short lived and fell from P4 as the front-end washed out into turn 9. Simon returned to the race but later suffered a second crash and retired from the race.

Zarco then hit the front as Rabat started to make his way back through the leading group of 10 riders. Syahrin continued in 2nd ahead of Aegerter, Lowes and Rins. Aegerter then took the lead from Zarco with a great move into turn 1 whilst Rabat passed Syahrin for third and Rins moved ahead of Lowes for 5th. Cortese and Kallio appeared to come together at turn 2 ending both their races and Kallio indicated the former was to blame for their exit.

Syahrin dropped to 8th as the lead changed numerous times between Rins, Zarco and Aegerter with just 8 laps remaining. Lowes crashed out from 6th at turn 14 and Thomas Luthi somehow managed to avoid colliding with both Lowes and the bike as man and machine slid back across the track at the final corner. With just 3 laps remaining, any of the top 4 (Aegerter, Rins, Zarco and Morbidelli) could win the race before Rins took the lead with a great move on Aegerter on the penultimate lap.

Rins established enough of an advantage to hold on for his first ever Moto2 victory ahead of Zarco and Morbidelli. Aegerter despite leading a large proportion of the race could only settle for 4th. It was an truly enthralling race with lap after lap of overtakes and is definitely the best Moto2 race this year so far.

The result means Zarco now leads the championship by 71 points from Alex Rins who moves ahead of defending champion Tito Rabat (who could only manage a 5th place finish).

Moto2 Race Result Top 10:

WINNER - Alex RINS, Paginas Amarillas HP 40, 41:18.866

SECOND - Johann ZARCO, Ajo Motorsport, +0.482

THIRD - Franco MORBIDELLI, Italtrans Racing Team, +0.888

4th - Dominique AERGERTER, Technomag Racing Interwetten, +1.719

5th - Tito RABAT, EG 0,0, Marc VDS, +2.963

6th - Thomas LUTHI, Derendinger Racing Interwetten, +3.478

7th - Alex PONS, AGR Team, +5.064

8th - Xavier SIMEON, Federal Oil Gresini Moto2, +7.562

9th - Takaaki NAKAGAMI, IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia, +9.316

10th - Alex MARQUEZ, EG 0,0, Marc VDS, +9.801

Full Moto2 Race Result here: