Reigning 125cc Champion Márquez (Team CatalunyaCaixa Repsol) took his second Moto2 victory of his debut season in tricky conditions at the Iveco TT Assen, climbing 6 places in the Championship to put him second in the standings. The 18 year old finished in front of Kenan Sofuoglu (Technomag-CIP) in second, the Turkish rider's first podium of the season, and Bradley Smith (Tech 3) in third.
Both Sofuoglu and Smith lead the field throughout the race, battling with Spanish star Márquez and Yuki Takahashi (Gresini Racing), who made it up to second position before crashing out with only 4 laps to go. Mike di Meglio (Tech 3) was also an early front runner until he crashed out as well.
Anthony West (MZ Racing) rode a strong race to finish fourth, his best finish of the season so far. The Australian was chased by Alex de Angelis (JiR Moto2) in fifth and Mattia Pasini (Ioda Racing Project) in sixth, who welcomed the top ten finish after his DNF in the last round at Silverstone. Esteve Rabat (Blusens-STX), Thomas Lüthi (Interwetten Paddock Moto2), Randy Krummenacher (GP Team Switzerland Kiefer Racing) and Max Neukirchner (MZ Racing) completed the top ten.
As the track began to dry the rain tyres started to wear and it became clear that the matter of staying upright was affected by the fast degrading tyres. The end of the race produced a number of crashes, including Championship leader Stefan Bradl (Viessmann Kiefer Racing), who fell in the chicane with 3 laps to go, failing to finish a race for the first time this season and seeing his Championship lead narrowed slightly. It was not a good day for Gresini Racing Moto2 team, as Michele Pirro followed his team mate Takahashi and crashed on the last lap.
[Press Release Courtesy of MotoGP]
