Moto2

Pol Espargaro claims Victory in 13 Lap Moto2 Sprint Race

Author: Aaryn Minerds

Posted:

Monday, October 21st, 2013

12:55 PM

Pol Espargaro claims Victory in 13 Lap Moto2 Sprint Race

The 2013 Australian Moto2 Grand Prix will go down as one of the shortest ever completely dry races in Moto GP history as Tuenti UP 40 Pons Kalex rider Pol Espargaro won the 13 lap race leading from start to finish.

Due to some heavy crashes by multiple riders throughout qualifying and practice and similar tyre degradation issues as the MotoGp class, the Moto2 riders had their race shortened to just 13 laps making for a fast paced sprint race that was without championship lead Scott Redding.

The British Marc VDS Racing Team Kalex rider who came into the weekend with a slender nice point lead over Espargaro was sidelined from this years race after a breaking his wrist during the qualifying session.

Espargaro took full advantage of the situation fending off a strong early attack from Alex De Angelis (NGM Mobile Forward Racing Speed Up), who later set a new lap record. In the closing laps another fierce attack came from Thomas Luthi (Interwetten Paddock Moto2 Suter), but it was not enough as Espargaro crossed the line to take the win and also the Moto2 points lead.

‰ÛÏAll my life I had a dream to be World Champion, sooner or later. It is not done, yet, but it is close. I can't believe where we are and what we did. " Espargaro enthused. "I‰Ûªm not 100 percent happy because while I have overtaken Redding in the championship points, he was not on track, and this is not good.

"But this is racing, where every lap and corner can be dangerous. Anyway, we are not still champion. For sure we are going to work hard as we did all season‰Û

Pol Espargaro is the new Moto2 championship leader with just two rounds remaining in the series - Credit: Honda Racing

Luthi crossed the line just over half-a-second adrift for his best result of the year, himself fending off a last-lap attack from German GP winner Jordi Torres (Aspar Team Moto2 Suter), less than a tenth behind. Simone Corsi (NGM Mobile Racing Speed Up) was almost as close to him, with De Angelis on his back wheel, and the top five covered by 1.1 seconds.

‰ÛÏWith just 13 laps there was just one strategy: full throttle from the go." Luthi stated. "Such a short race, actually, too short for me, because I had quite a good set-up and was not scared at all by a full length.

"Due to safety reasons we had to do this short race, so I had to change the strategy. The target was to get a good start and push straight from the beginning. After one lap Pol opened a gap, then he made a small mistake, and I was there immediately, but afterwards I made a mistake, and at the end it was not possible to catch up and fight for a victory.

"I had to battle to keep the other guys behind me, not easy, but at the end second is great. I didn‰Ûªt struggle at all with the tyres during all the weekend with lost rubber or anything like that," he added.

Australian rider Anthony West (QMMF Racing Team Speed Up) fought through to tenth in a crowd-pleasing ride after finishing the first lap in 20th.

Moto 3 Podium - Credit: Honda Racing

Moto2 Race Results - Round 15: Australia:
1. Pol Espargaro 20m19.219s ESP KALEX Tuenti HP 40
2. Thomas Luthi 0.591 SWI SUTER Interwetten Paddock Moto2
3. Jordi Torres 0.679 ESP SUTER Mapfre Aspar Team Moto2
4. Simone Corsi 0.893 ITA SPEED UP NGM Mobile Forward Racing
5. Alex De Angelis 1.111 SMR SPEED UP NGM Mobile Forward Racing
6. Dominique Aegerter 3.073 SWI SUTER Technomag CarXpert
7. Mika Kallio 3.234 FIN KALEX Marc VDS Racing Team
8. Esteve Rabat 3.655 ESP KALEX Tuenti HP 40
9. Nicolas Terol 10.182 ESP SUTER Mapfre Aspar Team Moto2
10. Anthony West 18.083 AUS SPEED UP QMMF Racing Team
11. Sandro Cortese 18.317 GER KALEX Dynavolt Intact GP
12. Ricard Cardus 19.415 SPA SPEED UP NGM Mobile Forward Racing
13. Danny Kent 32.194 GBR TECH 3 Tech 3 Racing
14. Gino Rea 32.835 GBR FTR Gino Rea Race Team
15. Doni Tata Pradita 35.588 IND SUTER Federal Oil Gresini Moto2
16. Mattia Pasini 36.183 ITA SPEED UP NGM Mobile Forward Racing
18. Steven Odendaal 36.913 RSA SPEED UP ArgiÌ±ano & Gines Racing
19. Azlan Shah 37.099 MAL MORIWAKI Idemitsu Honda Team Asia
20. Rafid Topan Sucipto 37.426 IND SPEED UP QMMF Racing Team
21. Marcel Schrotter 41.817 GER KALEX Desguaces La Torre SAG/Zelos
22. Takaaki Nakagima 41.933 JPN KALEX Italtrans Racing Team
23. Ezequiel Iturrioz 47.089 ARG KALEX Blusen Avianta
24. Axel Pons 1'30.731 SPA KALEX Tuenti HP 40
25. Alex Marinelarena DNF ESP HONDA TargoBank Motorsport
26. Louis Rossi DNF FRA TECH 3 Tech 3 Racing
27. Xavier Simeon DNF GER KALEX Desguaces La Torre SAG/Zelos
28. Johann Zarco DNF FRA SUTER Came IodaRacing Project
29. Julian Simon DNF SPA KALEX Italtrans Racing Team

Championship Standings After Round 15 of 17:
1. Pol Espargaro 240 pts
2. Scott Redding 224 pts
3. Esteve Rabat 204 pts
4. Mika Kallio 165 pts
5. Dominique Aegerter 143 pts
6. Takaaki Nakagima 138 pts
7. Thomas Luthi 130 pts
8. Johann Zarco 123 pts
9. Nicolas Terol 115 pts
10. Jordi Torres 106 pts
11. Simone Corsi 92 pts
12. Xavier Simeon 71 pts
13. Julian Simon 63 pts
14. Alex De Angelis 57 pts
15. Anthony West 48 pts AUS
16. Mattia Pasini 42 pts ITA
17. Marcel Schrotter 29 pts
18. Toni Elias 21 pts
19. Randy Krummenacher 20 pts
20. Sandro Cortese 18 pts

Top Image: Pol Espargaro claimed the race win and championship lead at Phillip Island
Credit: Aaryn Minerds