Not content with picking up his first-ever Moto2 win at Le Mans last time out, Britain's Scott Redding has made it two in a row at the Mugello MotoGP round this afternoon, taking victory by more than two seconds from Nico Terol.
The Gloucestershire rider was in a scrap with the Aspar man, and Johann Zarco in the closing stages but got the hammer down with a few laps to go to pull out a commanding lead while title rival Pol Espargaro had to fight his way through the pack to fourth place but Redding now has a 43-point lead in the title stakes over Terol while Espargaro is a further four points in arrears.
"The victory here was unbelievable. I controlled the race from the front and to win here a such a physical track for someone of my size is great," said Redding, who is now the youngest British rider to take back-to-back GP wins, a benchmark previous set by Barry Sheene.
Takaaki Nakagami took the lead off the start line, but a decisive move from Redding saw the Gloucestershire rider slide through at Poggio Seco on the fourth lap. Nakagami, struggling under braking, immediately began to drop back and crashed out of the race at Scarperia on lap nine – this marked his second fall in as many Grands Prix.
As Redding began to stretch out a healthy advantage over Terol (Mapfre Aspar Team Moto2) and Zarco (Came Iodaracing Project), Tuenti HP 40’s Pol Espargaro set about the task of damage limitation. From tenth on the grid, the pre-season title favourite made significant progress in the second half of the race; aided by contact between Alex de Angelis and Xavier Simeon which put the Belgian out of the race, Espargaro stole his final position of fourth from Mika Kallio just two laps from home.
Marc VDS’ Kallio would round out the top five, leading home Aspar’s Jordi Torres after an entertaining duel. Seventh-placed Simone Corsi (NGM Mobile Racing) was the leading Italian rider from aforementioned teammate de Angelis, as Tom Luthi and Dominique Aegerter ended quiet weekends in the final two top ten positions for Interwetten Paddock Moto2 Racing and Technomag carXpert, respectively.
Schrotter would finish 12th from third on the grid, whereas Tuenti’s Esteve Rabat – who had been the championship leader after Jerez – made a mistake and finished 13th. Six riders did not make the finish, including Indonesian duo Rafid Topan Sucipto and Doni Tata Pradita as the former fell and collected the latter at the first corner.
