Johann Zarco has taken the win in his final Moto2 race before stepping up to the big class at Valencia.
The Ajo Motorsport rider, who took his second title in succession at the previous round, ended his season in the best way possible while second place went to Garage Plus Interwetten rider Thomas Luthi, whose result also secured him second in the championship.
As the lights changed at the start, it was Thomas Luthi who got the cleanest getaway, but he was unable to pass polesitter Zarco, who led the pack into the first corner.
Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS rider Franco Morbidelli, who had topped the timesheets in warm up this morning was on a move too, searing past Luthi into second before having a crack at the leader on the second lap, but he was unable to make it stick for long as Zarco came back aggressively.
The Italian continued to try and find a way through but a lap later Alex Rins came into play as he passed Morbidelli into second. After a few laps of shuffling positions at the top, Zarco seemed to have some control but it wasn’t to last.
Morbidelli was like a dog with a bone having already seen the front, and after passing Rins to get back to second on the fifth lap, he set off after the two-time champion.
On lap 10 he made a move, and what followed was three laps where the lead changed more than a dozen times between the two.
It was Morbidelli who appeared to be the strongest as he hit the front and held a lead for four laps, but Zarco was never far away and came back through on the 16th lap to retake the lead.
Meanwhile behind, there wasn’t a lot of movement. Brit Sam Lowes had been running in fifth for a dozen or so laps and Luthi was still in third with Rins fourth.
Now back in the lead Zarco was able to stretch out a gap over Morbidelli, which grew and grew as the laps wore on and soon he was too far away for anyone to catch.
Behind, Rins came to life in the closing stages, and started to pester Luthi for third. With two laps left, Luthi came back to life, gapping Rins and chasing down Morbidelli, and as they headed into the final lap he was right there, making a pass at turn two.
Morbidelli’s race was all but done and he had no option but to settle for third, while Sam Lowes had a final burst of life and caught and passed Rins on the final straight to take fourth.
Rins had to make do with fifth while the Idemitsu Honda Team Asia machine of Takaaki Nakagami came through in the closing laps to finish sixth, ahead of Italtrans Racing Team rider Mattia Pasini.
Dynavolt Intact GP’s Jonas Folger was eighth while Brit Danny Kent took a delighted ninth after passing tenth placed Marcel Schrotter in the closing laps.
