Faubel claims victory and championship lead in Mugello

Hector Faubel gave Italian motorcycle company Aprilia plenty to cheer about with a victory and the championship lead at their home Grand Prix.

The Spaniard, who started from pole position, vied with several riders throughout the course of the 20 lap scintillating race which saw the lead change hands dozens of times.

In the middle of the race there was just 1.5 seconds covering the top 10 riders with Britain and Honda’s Bradley Smith clawing time back to close the gap in 11th place.

Mattia Pasini, Raffaele De Rosa, Gabor Talmacsi and Faubel were among those swapping places for the lead throughout the race, but Faubel won the fight for the slip stream coming off the final corner to take the chequered flag.

The ride of the morning though came from Sergio Gadea. The Spaniard climed from 20th on the grid to contend with the leading pack by lap five.

The Aprilia man, who also took his turn at the front, finished second while Italian Simone Corsi rounded off an Aprilia podium.

Championship leader going into the race, Lukas Pesek, crashed out on the last corner as did Italian De Rosa, from the leading group.

This in turn helped out 16-year-old Smith to climb two places to eighth just in time for the race finish.

Britain’s other rider, Danny Webb, also had cause for celebration as he claimed his best finish in the series in 21st place. His best finish before today was a 23rd in Turkey.

Webb had climbed from his starting position of 29th to 23rd by the second lap, although he did slip back in the middle of the race.

Other retirements from the race saw Dino Lobardi suffer a massive crash on the start of lap two while Mike De Meglio and Joan Olive retired to the pits in the middle of the race. Andrea Iannone was stretchered out of the gravel trap at Casaniva on lap 17.

125 race results:

1 Hector FAUBEL SPA APRILIA 40’14.164
2 Sergio GADEA SPA APRILIA 40’14.184
3 Simone CORSI ITA APRILIA 40’14.230
4 Gabor TALMACSI HUN APRILIA 40’14.298
5 Tomoyoshi KOYAMA JPN KTM 40’15.826
6 Mattia PASINI ITA APRILIA 40’15.855
7 Sandro CORTESE GER APRILIA 40’15.977
8 Bradley SMITH GBR HONDA 40’17.123
9 Pol ESPARGARO SPA APRILIA 40’31.659
10 Lorenzo ZANETTI ITA APRILIA 40’32.441
11 Michael RANSEDER AUT DERBI 40’38.019
12 Nicolas TEROL SPA DERBI 40’47.083
13 Randy KRUMMENACHE SWI KTM 40’50.424
14 Raffaele DE ROSA ITA APRILIA 40’52.363
15 Dominique AEGERTER SWI APRILIA 41’19.218
16 Joey LITJENS NED HONDA 41’19.270
17 Simone SANCIONI ITA APRILIA 41’19.559
18 Federico SANDI ITA APRILIA 41’19.812
19 Robert MURESAN ROU DERBI 41’19.864
20 Steve BONSEY USA KTM 41’39.581
21 Daniel WEBB GBR HONDA 41’39.759
22 Simone GROTZKYJ ITA APRILIA 41’59.463
23 Hugo VAN DEN BERG NED APRILIA 42’01.071
24 Roberto TAMBURINI ITA APRILIA 40’25.516