British MotoGP: Espargaro dominates Moto2 race

Spaniard Pol Espargaro followed on from his first ever Moto2 pole position with a dominating performance in the Moto2 race at Silverstone to take his second Moto2 victory.

Brits Scott Redding and Bradley Smith both got excellent starts, Smith especially as he took the outside line from the second row of the grid to take the lead ahead of Redding.

The pair passed each other several times on the opening lap, before Smith had a moment on the second lap which pushed him back to fifth place.

Espargaro caught Redding and took the lead on lap eight and from there was able to ease away from the Brit and the rest of the field.

It looked as though Redding would struggle to finish on the podium when championship leader Marc Marquez and Andrea Iannone both passed the Marc VDS rider, but Redding recovered and moved back to third with seven laps to go.

From there Redding was able to pressure Marquez, with both riders making hard moves in the final five laps.

Marquez led at the start of the final lap, but Redding sat the Spaniard up at the beginning of the lap. Marquez eased back in to second position on the back straight.

Redding out-braked Marquez going in to Vale, with Marquez tightening his line to go up the inside on the final corner, but Redding shut the door and held the lead to the line.

Tech 3 rider Bradley Smith faded after his excellent start and finished seventh. Fellow Brit Gino Rea finished 24th.

1 25 40 Pol ESPARGARO SPA Pons 40 HP Tuenti Kalex 165.5 38’29.792
2 20 45 Scott REDDING GBR Marc VDS Racing Team Kalex 165.4 +1.462
3 16 93 Marc MARQUEZ SPA Team CatalunyaCaixa Repsol Suter 165.4 +1.521
4 13 29 Andrea IANNONE ITA Speed Master Speed Up 165.3 +2.851
5 11 3 Simone CORSI ITA Came IodaRacing Project FTR 165.2 +3.803
6 10 71 Claudio CORTI ITA Italtrans Racing Team Kalex 165.0 +7.109
7 9 38 Bradley SMITH GBR Tech 3 Racing Tech 3 165.0 +7.627
8 8 12 Thomas LUTHI SWI Interwetten-Paddock Suter 165.0 +7.669
9 7 77 Dominique AEGERTER SWI Technomag-CIP Suter 164.4 +15.847
10 6 36 Mika KALLIO FIN Marc VDS Racing Team Kalex 164.1 +20.179
11 5 15 Alex DE ANGELIS RSM NGM Mobile Forward Racing Suter 164.1 +20.450
12 4 24 Toni ELIAS SPA Mapfre Aspar Team Suter 163.9 +23.017
13 3 80 Esteve RABAT SPA Pons 40 HP Tuenti Kalex 163.9 +23.155
14 2 4 Randy KRUMMENACHER SWI GP Team Switzerland Kalex 163.9 +23.236
15 1 14 Ratthapark WILAIROT THA Thai Honda PTT Gresini Moto2 Suter 163.8 +24.507
16  44 Roberto ROLFO ITA Technomag-CIP Suter 163.6 +26.418
17  76 Max NEUKIRCHNER GER Kiefer Racing Kalex 163.5 +28.043
18  63 Mike DI MEGLIO FRA S/Master Speed Up Speed Up 163.5 +28.365
19  30 Takaaki NAKAGAMI JPN Italtrans Racing Team Kalex 163.5 +28.577
20  18 Nicolas TEROL SPA Mapfre Aspar Team Suter 163.0 +36.100
21  19 Xavier SIMEON BEL Tech 3 Racing Tech 3 162.7 +39.473
22  60 Julian SIMON SPA Blusens Avintia Suter 162.7 +39.718
23  88 Ricard CARDUS SPA Arguiñano Racing Team AJR 162.7 +39.995
24  8 Gino REA GBR Federal Oil Gresini Moto2 Suter 162.7 +40.493
25  72 Yuki TAKAHASHI JPN NGM Mobile Forward Racing Suter 162.6 +41.470
26  47 Angel RODRIGUEZ SPA Desguaces La Torre SAG Bimota 161.2 +1’02.611
27  95 Anthony WEST AUS QMMF Racing Team Moriwaki 161.0 +1’05.324
28  7 Alexander LUNDH SWE Cresto Guide MZ Racing MZ-RE Honda 160.7 +1’08.938
29  10 Marco COLANDREA SWI SAG Team FTR 159.0 +1’34.995
30  22 Alessandro ANDREOZZI ITA Andreozzi Reparto Corse FTR 158.5 +1’42.775
31  82 Elena ROSELL SPA QMMF Racing Team Moriwaki 158.4 +1’44.102
32  57 Eric GRANADO BRA JIR Moto2 Motobi 157.5 +1’58.051