Thailand Moto2: Marini wins, Marquez extends points lead

Luca Marini eased to his first Moto2 win of the season in the Thailand Grand Prix, as Alex Marquez extended his championship lead despite missing the podium in fifth.

The Sky VR46 rider quickly made his way into the lead ahead of Marquez from fourth on the grid, and proved untouchable once in front to take the victory by over two seconds.

SAG Racing’s Tetsuta Nagashima grabbed the holeshot off the line from second, but ran wide at Turn 1 and let poleman Marquez come back through, with Marini running close behind in third.

Marini made light work of Nagashima at Turn 3 on the second lap, before carving past Marquez the following tour at Turn 5.

Once clear, Marini immediately built up an advantage of half a second to Marquez, which he would soon open up to over three seconds at one stage as the battle for the final podium places raged behind.

Behind, Iker Lecuona (American Racing Team) gouged time out of Marc VDS man Marquez and was just three tenths behind on the fifth tour.

Marquez resisted the pressure for some time, with Lecuona finally finding a way through on lap 14 at the final corner – though was immediately re-passed at the first corner.

Lecuona made the pass stick with a brave move on the inside of Turn 6 moments later, with KTM’s Brad Binder following him through a couple of corners later.

Marquez would get past Binder at Turn 3 on the next tour, but he would lose third to the KTM rider at the end of the lap and soon came under threat from Augusto Fernandez.

Pons’s Fernandez came close to contact with Marquez at the last corner on lap 17, which left him with work to do to get back on terms with Marquez.

However, this didn’t take him long and the pair debated fourth with five laps to go – Marquez fending him off on the exit of Turn 3 after Fernandez tried to take advantage of the Marc VDS rider running wide.

Fernandez would secure fourth at the same turn a lap later, with Marquez unable to respond in the closing stages.

Ahead, Binder made a daring raid on second at the fast left of Turn 4, but ran wide and allowed Lecuona to strike back.

The pair were line astern as they ran into the final sector of the last lap, with Binder bravely going around the outside of Lecuona into Turn 12 to snatch second, with Fernandez only missing a podium place by four tenths.

Marquez completed the top five, extending his championship lead to 40 points over Fernandez, while Jorge Martin (KTM), Intact GP’s Tom Luthi, race-winner Marini’s teammate Nicolo Bulega, home hero Somkiat Chantra (Honda Team Asia) and Tech3’s Marc Bezzecchi rounded out the top 10.

Second in the standings ahead of this race, Speed Up’s Jorge Navarro finished outside of the points in 17, while Pons’s Lorenzo Baldassarri’s difficult run continued with a 25th-place finish after an early crash.

Race results:

ClaRiderBikeGap
1 Luca MariniKalex 
2 Brad BinderKTM 2.296
3 Iker LecuonaKTM 2.544
4 Augusto FernandezKalex 2.585
5 Alex MarquezKalex 2.919
6 Jorge MartinKTM 6.839
7 Thomas LuthiKalex 12.50
8 Nicolo BulegaKalex 13.669
9 Somkiat ChantraKalex 14.622
10 Marco BezzecchiKTM 14.726
11 Enea BastianiniKalex 14.873
12 Remy GardnerKalex 15.952
13 Andrea LocatelliKalex 16.095
14 Marcel SchrotterKalex 16.603
15 Tetsuta NagashimaKalex 17.147
16 Dominique AegerterMV 18.707
17 Jorge NavarroSpeed Up 20.985
18 Fabio Di GiannantonioSpeed Up 23.103
19 Jake DixonKTM 25.393
20 Bo BendsneyderNTS 27.715
21 Jesko RaffinNTS 34.863
22 Philipp OttlKTM 35.014
23 Adam NorrodinKalex 58.666
24 Dimas Ekky PratamaKalex 1 Lap
25 Lorenzo BaldassarriKalex 1 Lap
  Xavi CardelusKTM 1 Lap
  Sam LowesKalex 7 Laps
  Mattia PasiniKalex 11 Laps
  Lukas TulovicKTM 12 Laps
  Xavi ViergeKalex 14 Laps
  Stefano ManziMV 19 Laps
  Joe RobertsKTM 22 Laps

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