Andrea Iannone wins in Japan, with Márquez 2nd and Moto2 leader

Rider Andrea Iannone took the Moto2 victory at the Motegi circuit. The Italian showed great pace on the Japanese track and was not passed by anyone, nor did he let anyone past, despite making a mistake in the final part of the race in the tunnel section.

The start of the race was very complicated: there was a multiple crash in which, unfortunately, Jordi Torres and Ricky Cardús were involved, and they were out of the race. Meanwhile, up front Iannone overtook Márquez, the category’s pole-sitter, and tried to open a gap, while Corsi got onto the tail of the 93 and Bradl was in 5th, waiting to see how the race would unfold.

Up front, Iannone showed a spectacular pace, lap after fast lap, while Márquez held second with Corsi and Bradl blocking him at times. Although the 65 passed the Italian on a few occasions, he could not complete the move, since the 3 is a tough rival in race conditions. The worst part for the championship leader was that behind him Luthi was coming on very strongly, and so was De Angelis.

While Iannone opened up a gap and left Márquez a little behind, who was doing the same with Corsi, who was falling back with Bradl+Luthi+De Angelis. The maximum excitement was in that group, since depending on how the German finished, Márquez would or would not be leader after Motegi.

But suddenly, in the final part of the race, Iannone had trouble in the tunnel, as if he had gone into neutral and was almost stopped. This allowed Márquez to pass him, but it did not last long: the 29 was in winning mode today, and in no time he was back on the tail of the CatalunyaCaixa Repsol machine and passed him without problems.

A little further back, the fight for the podium became exciting, with Luthi arriving like a flash. He overtook Bradl and then Corsi, while the German did the same to the 3, who was battling De Angelis. It was a lot of fighting that left the Swiss rider, number 12, as the third-place finisher.

Iannone took the victory, his third win of the season, and left Márquez in second place and AS THE NEW MOTO2 CHAMPIONSHIP LEADER, since Luthi finished third and Bradl fourth, losing the Moto2 lead by just one point to the Catalan.

A great race, especially with the group chasing Iannone and Márquez. Bad luck for Aleix Espargaró, who had rebound problems with his machine, and also for Axel Pons, who went down when he was doing very well.

Of course, sending ENCOURAGEMENT TO SERGIO GADEA, we missed you on track. He seems to be recovering little by little, and he may not even need an operation on his spleen, so all the best to our 33.

Now on to Australia.

Motegi Classification

• 1 25 29 Andrea IANNONE ITA Speed Master Suter 152,6 43’25.007
• 2 20 93 Marc MARQUEZ SPA Team CatalunyaCaixa Repsol Suter 152,5 +1.999
• 3 16 12 Thomas LUTHI SWI Interwetten Paddock Moto2 Suter 152,4 +3.686
• 4 13 65 Stefan BRADL GER Viessmann Kiefer Racing Kalex 152,3 +4.313
• 5 11 3 Simone CORSI ITA Ioda Racing Project FTR 152,3 +4.647
• 6 10 15 Alex DE ANGELIS RSM JIR Moto2 Motobi 152,3 +4.813
• 7 9 38 Bradley SMITH GBR Tech 3 Racing Tech 3 152,0 +10.520
• 8 8 77 Dominique AEGERTER SWI Technomag-CIP Suter 152,0 +10.725
• 9 7 34 Esteve RABAT SPA Blusens-STX FTR 151,9 +11.387
• 10 6 36 Mika KALLIO FIN Marc VDS Racing Team Suter 151,9 +12.803
• 11 5 19 Xavier SIMEON BEL Tech 3 B Tech 3 151,5 +18.259
• 12 4 13 Anthony WEST AUS MZ Racing Team MZ-RE Honda 151,4 +20.815
• 13 3 51 Michele PIRRO ITA Gresini Racing Moto2 Moriwaki 151,2 +23.795
• 14 2 75 Mattia PASINI ITA Ioda Racing Project FTR 151,2 +24.388
• 15 1 44 Pol ESPARGARO SPA HP Tuenti Speed Up FTR 150,6 +34.071
• 16 16 Jules CLUZEL FRA NGM Forward Racing Suter 150,4 +38.236
• 17 9 Kenny NOYES USA Avintia-STX FTR 150,3 +39.505
• 18 76 Max NEUKIRCHNER GER MZ Racing Team MZ-RE Honda 150,3 +39.609
• 19 54 Kenan SOFUOGLU TUR Technomag-CIP Suter 150,2 +42.296
• 20 45 Scott REDDING GBR Marc VDS Racing Team Suter 150,1 +44.162
• 21 53 Valentin DEBISE FRA Speed Up FTR 149,9 +46.662
• 22 14 Ratthapark WILAIROT THA Thai Honda Singha SAG FTR 149,9 +46.950
• 23 68 Yonny HERNANDEZ COL Blusens-STX FTR 149,7 +49.625
• 24 4 Randy KRUMMENACHER SWI GP Team Switzerland Kiefer Racing Kalex
• 25 39 Robertino PIETRI VEN Italtrans Racing Team Suter 149,6 +52.044
• 26 6 Joan OLIVE SPA Aeroport de Castello FTR 149,6 +52.365
• 27 63 Mike DI MEGLIO FRA Tech 3 Racing Tech 3 149,0 +1’02.873
• 28 7 Tomoyoshi KOYAMA JPN CIP with TSR TSR 6 147,2 +1’35.559
• 29 95 Mashel AL NAIMI QAT QMMF Racing Team Moriwaki 147,2 +1’35.771
• 30 72 Yuki TAKAHASHI JPN Gresini Racing Moto2 Moriwaki 145,6 1 Lap
• 31 40 Aleix ESPARGARO SPA Pons HP 40 Pons Kalex 131,2 3 Laps

Photo | MotoGP Official website