We are ready, for the Moto2 race in Austria. The middleweight MotoGP steppingstone class, if you will. We are at the halfway mark of the season, at the Red Bull Ring, in Spielberg. Can anyone chase Johann Zarco? He leads Alex Rins by 25 points. Anything can happen in motorcycle racing. The weather is lovely in Austria. Tom Luthi is the man who could challenge Johann Zarco. Sam Lowes and Alex Rins are up there. But, they'll have to charge to get by Zarco. It's a game of catch me if you can. Zarco has his second 2016 pole position. 25 laps scheduled for the Moto2 race. Zarco has won three of the last four races. History beckons, too. If he finishes on the podium, he'll be the most successful French MotoGP rider, since Christian Sarron, a legend of the sport himself.
Franco Morbidelli qualifies second on the grid. He too, wants to have a podium, after falling twice in Germany, last time out. Tom Luthi rounds out the front row, but has not had a podium since France, at Le Mans. He tested the KTM MotoGP bike during the summer break, here at Red Bull Ring. Marcel Schrotter is fourth. Jonas Folger has chosen to run the harder option Michelin tire. Alex Marquez completes the top five. It is his best career Moto2 start. Jonas Folger starts tenth. He can roll the dice. Axel Pons is sixth. Sam Lowes is seventh, having had issues in sector two on the track. He wants a podium for the first time since Mugello.
Takaaki Nakagami rolls off eighth. Alex Rins is ninth. He is determined to get to the front. He has had two races, since he scored a podium. Again, Jonas Folger rounds out the top ten. He wants to put in decent performances before being a part of the MotoGP grid in 2017. Dominique Aegerter rolls off 11th. Next up, is Lorenzo Baldassari in 12th. Sadly, it equals his season worst start of 2016. Sandro Cortese is 13th, and has also had his season worst qualifying effort. Alex Rins' team mate, Edgar Pons, rolls off 14th, which is his best career starting position. So, we look again at the front row before sending the riders and their machines out on the warmup lap.
Tom Luthi is third. Franco Morbidelli is second, and Johann Zarco has pole. 28 bikes and riders are set to go. Johann Zarco leads the championship by 25 points over Alex Rins, and 30 points over Sam Lowes. Can Johann Zarco dominate this race? Here are the weather conditions. 26 degrees Celsius (78 degrees Fahrenheit), air temperature. 41 degrees Celsius (105 degrees Fahrenheit), track temperature. A slight breeze is blowing. 25 laps await us, in Austria. The 600cc bikes are ready to race. Zarco on pole. It's lights out! Away we go! Franco Morbidelli gets a beautiful start as Sam Lowes bogs down slightly.
Morbidelli leads, as Zarco runs wide into turn one! This promotes Alex Marquez to second spot. Takaaki Nakagami has a good start. But poor old Sam Lowes, man, he got swamped and is all the way down in tenth place. Tight squeeze into turn three as Jonas Folger makes his way past Dominique Aegerter. Franco Morbidelli has a perfect first lap and has stretched his lead over everyone else. Marcel Schrotter tries the inside of Alex Marquez. Can't quite make it. Johann Zarco is running fifth at the moment. Alex Rins sweeps past Takaaki Nakagami into sixth. Tom Luthi makes a move on Marcel Schrotter, but they are side by side down the hill to turn four. Schrotter makes his move. Rins passes Nakagami, too.
Sam Lowes is having a rough go of it. He is down in 12th, having been passed by Danny Kent. Both Marc VDS motorcycles are at the sharp end of the order at the moment. Johann Zarco runs the fastest lap of the race so far at 1:30.479. Marcel Schrotter makes a move inside of Alex Marquez. Zarco nudges his way past Tom Luthi. A bit of argy bargy between the two, it seems. Alex Rins is a second behind Luthi in sixth spot. Zarco again, brings fast lap down. This time, still in the minute and a half range. 1:30.315. Sandro Cortese, so far, is not having the race he wanted at all. He languishes down in 19th spot. Morbidelli has opened his lead to 8/10ths of a second over Marcel Schrotter.
Jonas Folger has ditched his bike. He gambled on the hard option rear tire, and has wrecked in turn four. Can he get the bike upright and get going again? He definitely overcooked the corner there, and plows through the gravel trap. Zarco makes a move on Marquez, and should make it stick. Franco Morbidelli clicks off another fast lap at 1:29.951. He's the first bloke in the 1:29 bracket. Folger is back in action. But, Sam Lowes has crashed somewhere on the circuit. As we speak, Zarco nearly wipes out Marquez through turn four! Tom Luthi capitalizes on that bobble. Alex Rins makes a pass on Alex Marquez into turn five. Sam Lowes is back in action, but well down the order.
Lowes was way too hot into turn ten, as we see in replay. Fausto Gresini, team boss, can't be happy. Keep an eye on Johann Zarco. He's fourth now, but could be in contention as this race draws to an end. Nothing has changed up front, in case you needed to run to the fridge. Morbidelli and Schrotter run 1-2. Our top ten so far is:
1. Franco Morbidelli
2. Marcel Schrotter
3. Tom Luthi
4. Johann Zarco
5. Alex Rins
6. Alex Marquez
7. Takaaki Nakagami
8. Axel Pons
9. Lorenzo Baldassari
10. Dominique Aegerter
Zarco takes fast lap down again, to 1:29.891. Marquez needs a decent result and is back into a rhythm. That's the key in motorcycle road racing. Points as they run sees Johann Zarco on 164 markers, leading by 27 over Alex Rins on 137. Sam Lowes is 43 points behind in third on 121. Alex Rins is in hot pursuit of his closest rival, one J. Zarco. Marcel Schrotter, meanwhile, is closing up on Franco Morbidelli. New fast lap. This time, Tom Luthi is through the traps at 1:29.666. Australian Remy Gardner (son of 500cc Grand Prix motorcycle racing champion, Wayne Gardner), is moving up the order. He's 16th right now. We watch a battle for seventh between Takaaki Nakagami and Axel Pons.
Alex Rins is losing time to his rivals at the moment. Alex Rins dives inside Alex Marquez. No love lost between these two, going back to their Moto3 days. These two are former team mates. Rins slams the door in Marquez's face. Johann Zarco is on fire right now, lowering fast lap to 1:29.497. 17 laps remain. Franco Morbidelli has led since the red lights went out. He's still in P1. Tom Luthi is hanging on to third, but has Johann Zarco still in hot pursuit behind him. Morbidelli leads Schrotter by a few tenths of a second right now. Marcel Schrotter looks to make a move in turn four, on Franco Morbidelli. No dice. Morbidelli stays in front.
Sam Lowes has another crash, in turn nine. It's very well game over for the Federal Oil Gresini rider today in Austria. Marcel Schrotter, while we were paying attention to Lowes' mishap, takes the lead away from Morbidelli. Johann Zarco pushes his way to third, past Tom Luthi. Now, down the front straight, Schrotter allows Morbidelli back by. That's a bizarre move. Schrotter had just taken the lead away. Perhaps he exceeded track limits and would have had to give way, to avoid being penalized by the stewards. These two are still swapping the lead. Yikes! Wait a minute. There was a local yellow flag at the corner. That's why Schrotter slowed up.
Simone Corsi has crashed out of this race. Corsi tried to make a banzai move around Hafizh Syahrin, and to say the least, it didn't work. Corsi is on the deck, and Syahrin is caught up as an innocent bystander for someone else's foolishness. Syahrin is back in the race, on his merry way. Corsi is one of those blokes who seems to get involved in too many kerfuffles. Morbidelli leads Schrotter who has Zarco breathing down his neck. Zarco flies inside Schrotter like he was tied to fence post! Schrotter powers back by Zarco, this time on the outside. Zarco isn't done yet, as Schrotter slams the door in his face.
Schrotter brakes late, knowing Zarco is going to nip him up the hill. Luthi capitalizes and pushes Zarco down to fourth. Luthi is hot into turn three and runs wide. Game over for Simone Corsi. Zarco dives outside Schrotter. All this fighting has opened an advantage for Franco Morbidelli. Zarco moves to second, but the gap is over a second. Morbidelli cannot cut mid 1:29 laps, while Zarco can do so with ease. Alex Rins is also coming on the scene, and fast. 11 laps remain in Austria as Franco Morbidelli has a gap on Johann Zarco. Luthi tries for third, and can't do it. Schrotter comes back.
Rins is steaming right along and is one second behind the tussle between Luthi and Schrotter. We watch in replay, the second wreck for Sam Lowes. The rear wheel of the motorcycle comes up off the racing surface. The handlebar broke off the bike, and he has no chance of saving this one. Down he goes, sliding on his back, right next to the bike. Ugh! Game over for Sam Lowes to say the least. Zarco ran a half second quicker on the previous lap than did Morbidelli in the lead. The gap is down to half a second, and Zarco is on the move. He'll be on Morbidelli's rear wheel in no time. Morbidelli is going to have his hands full here. Zarco is the shark, smelling blood in the water.
They're on the front straight now. Zarco is in the slipstream of the Marc VDS bike. Zarco is up the inside, and goes into the lead here at the Red Bull Ring. Morbidelli will try the same move to get the lead back. No dice, as they go uphill through turns two and three. Alex Rins, meanwhile, is having a tough old time getting by Marcel Schrotter. But, on the straight, he might have a shot. Let's find out., folks. No dice this time. Schrotter runs wide. Tom Luthi is gaining ground, too. Tom Luthi does indeed take away second from Franco Morbidelli. Can Luthi chase down Zarco in these last few laps here in Austria?
Alex Rins is now fourth. But, Schrotter retaliates and takes fourth back. The last quarter of the race, Morbidelli's tires fade. Seven laps remain as we watch Zarco leading, with Luthi and Morbidelli battling. Zarco is over a second ahead. Rins passes Schrotter again. Not this time. Zarco leads by 1.3 seconds. Alex Rins could go for second, because it seems Luthi's and Morbidelli's tires, are totally knackered by now. Even if the tires are fading, the top five riders are still consistently lapping in the 1:29 range. If the race ended now, Zarco would have a 37 point lead over Rins in the championship standings. With his wrecks, Sam Lowes will be 55 points adrift and not be able to make up that deficit.
Sandro Cortese could score his best finish of the year in 11th place. Alex Marquez is solidly in sixth. Rins has taken a half a second out of the gap between he and the second and third place duo of Morbidelli and Luthi. Sam Lowes is fine after his crashes. But, the motorcycle itself is junk. Two laps remain. Zarco is clear of Luthi by 2.6 seconds. Luthi is still having the blowtorch applied by Morbidelli. Rins' fight for second has run it's course. Morbidelli is on his way to a career best finish. Morbidelli moves into the slipstream of Tom Luthi. It is the final lap of the race. Zarco crosses the line turning in a 1:29.7. Luthi matches that lap time.
Zarco could become the most successful French rider in Grand Prix motorcycle racing history. Tom Luthi is right alongside Franco Morbidelli. Luthi runs wide, Morbidelli has the grip on the outside. Morbidelli runs wide, and Luthi returns the favor. Alex Rins is right in view now, so if these two crash, he can sail through. Morbidelli fights back on Luthi to go into second. Oh dear! Luthi is going to lose a podium place! Like sand slipping through his fingers, Luthi gets passed by Rins! Luthi is out wide. Rins takes third! Zarco wins it! Morbidelli is second. Rins is third. Luthi is robbed of a podium spot!
#5 Johann Zarco FRA. Kalex
The next Moto2 race is at the Brno circuit in the Czech Republic. Stay tuned for that event, coming soon.
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