Moto2 championship leader Franco Morbidelli made his first big error of the season at the Jerez MotoGP round when he crashed out with 17 laps to go and handed Estrella Galicia team-mate Alex Marquez a relative cruise to his first class win.
The pair were head and shoulders above the pack, leaving the line in first and second, and establishing a four-second lead in four laps. Morbidelli dived past the Spaniard when he ran wide at turn five but just a lap later, lost the front at turn nine - where he crashed in free practice - after running out of ground clearance.
“This is unbelievable, I could not have imagined a victory like this in front of my home fans. I want to dedicate this win to my mum on Mother’s Day. It was a long wait for three years to catch a victory and winning in Jerez is a dream come true. It was a difficult race in hot conditions and when I saw Franco crash I knew how easy it was to make mistake. I could not hold my maximum pace because I was on the limit with the front grip so just controlled the gap to the riders behind. I want to thank everyone in the team and all those who support me in Spain,” said Marquez.
It left Marquez with a massive lead over SKY VR46’s rider Peco Bagnaia - only in his fourth-ever Moto2 race - who had a lonely race for second place. Miguel Oliveira struggled with a full fuel tank early on but then found his pace and made his way to the back wheel of Mattia Pasini in third.
The Italtrans rider ran out of tyre with six laps to go and Oliveira put in a forceful move for the final podium spot. Luca Marini took his best-ever result in the class, mopping up fifth place and nearly catching Pasini for fourth with Marcel Schrotter in sixth place. Title challenger Tom Luthi ended in eighth place after a scrap with fellow Swiss Domi Aegerter with Axel Pons and MotoGP exile Yonny Hernandez completing the top ten.
Taka Nakagami and Xavi Vierge were taken out by an errant Simone Corsi on lap four.
Morbelli’s championship lead has been reduced to 11 points over Luthi while Oliveira is a further six points back. Marquez jumps up to fourth place with today’s 25-point haul and trails Morbidelli by 26 points.
