Italy Mattia Pasini has taken his first Grand Prix victory since Misano in 2009 at Mugello’s MotoGP round today, going from third to first on the final Moto2 lap to beat Tom Luthi by 0.052s with Alex Marquez less than 0.03s further back.
Pasini took 85 attempts in the class to take victory and proved to be masterful through the Casanova/Savelli section where he was able to pass at will through the change of direction.
The race was between three horses as championship leader Franco Morbidelli just didn’t have the pace to challenge which left Pasini, Luthi and Marquez to fight for the podium spots.
Pasini initally took the lead from Marquez at Arrabbiata I with 16 left to run as Luthi set a new lap record and Morbidelli, who completed a breakaway top four, began to slip off the pace.
It took Marquez another nine laps to find his way back to the front, going under Pasini at San Donato but he ran wide and Pasini was back in front. A lap later, Marquez retirned to the lead but Pasini went back through at Savelli.
With five to go, Marquez tried again at San Donato as Luthi also made a charge, using the slipstream to pass on the brakes but the Swiss ran wide. He settled into second ahead of Pasini.
As they came to Casanova/Savelli again, Pasini swept past Luthi for second and a lap later, reclaimed the lead at the same place. With three left, Marquez again went into the lead at San Donato but again ran wide.
On the last lap, Luthi took the lead at San Donato and Pasini was pushed back to third. However, it was again at Savelli when he pushed past Marquez and then cut under Luthi at Arrabbiata I to take the lead and held it to the line.
Morbidelli ended 3.5s off the lead and sees his points lead cut to 17. Miguel Oliveira finished in fifth with Luca Marini in sixth.
Britain’s Danny Kent crashed with 12 laps left to run while rookie Peco Bagnaia went down from a top-five spot on the penultimate lap. Tarran Mackenzie was 27th.
