Repsol rider wins out in intense duel with Iannone and takes second at Aragón GP.
Marc Márquez had a spectacular race at Aragón in which he battled with Andrea Iannone for second place —a fight which allowed Pol Espargaró to take victory. The Repsol rider emerged victorious in the fight and picked up a valuable 20 points for his title challenge. He currently leads the way in Moto2 with 258 points, 48 ahead of second-placed Pol Espargaró.
After a wet weekend, good weather finally arrived at MotorLand Aragón on race day. Temperatures of 17 degrees —22 on track— greeted the Moto2 riders for a dry GP. Marc Márquez was starting from seventh, but on the opening corners he was able to move up to catch the lead group. The Spaniard slotted into third behind compatriot Pol Espargaró, swiftly passing him. The Repsol rider was 481 tenths behind race leader Simone Corsi at that point, but by the sixth lap he had assumed the lead.
However, Márquez was unable to establish a significant gap and was caught by Iannone and Espargaró with seven laps to go. Rather than settling for third, the series leader engaged in battle with the duo in a spectacular finale. Espargaró made his escape, leaving Iannone as Márquez’s rival for second place. Scott Redding snuck up the order to catch them before the end, but the race concluded with Espargaró first, Márquez 1.477 seconds back in second place and Redding third.
Marc Márquez continues to lead the way in Moto2 with 258 points to his name —48 more tan nearest rival Pol Espargaró.
Marc Márquez >> Audio
2nd at 1.447 sec.
“I am happy. Today we had a lot of fun and you can’t always win. On the final six laps, in which everyone —me included— were waiting to attack, Iannone and Espargaró got past me. Later, Redding did the same. I lost touch a little, but even then I think that I had some strong final laps. Pol had a great race; he was able to overtake and escape when Andrea lost time, but in the end the important thing is that he only took five points from me. We have four races remaining and we have to think about the championship. I don’t know if I would have caught Pol, but when Andrea and I stopped holding one another up, it was already too late. We had just one lap to go and it was too risky to try and catch Pol. These 20 points are very important for the title fight”.
