Johann Zarco extends his championship lead after a commanding race win in the wet, with Alex Rins and Tito Rabat completing the podium.

Ajo Motorsport’s Johann Zarco made it 11 podiums in a row and extended his lead in the Moto2™ World Championship standings after taking a commanding win during a wet race at the Octo British Grand Prix. The Frenchman crossed the line 3.360s ahead of Paginas Amarillas HP40’s Alex Rins, with Tito Rabat on the EG 0,0 Marc VDS Kalex completing the podium.

Heavy rain during the morning’s Warm Up session saw all the riders line up on the grid with wet tyres but it had stopped by the time the lights went out, leading to a dramatic and tense race. Frenchman Zarco showed that he was the master in the wet as he managed to preserve his tyres when a dry racing line appeared while many others struggled.

Zarco, starting from 3rd on the grid, was involved in an excellent early battle with Rabat and Rins with the three riders swapping the lead numerous times. On the second lap Zarco and Rabat almost touched, with Zarco running wide and dropping back to fifth. It took him until lap seven to work his way back to the front and take the lead. Zarco immediately set about creating a gap at the front as the others seemed to suffer from greater tyre degradation. By lap thirteen the gap between Zarco and second placed Rabat had reached 8 seconds.  There was a slight scare for the championship leader as Rins started to close him down in the final stages but he responded to take his 6th career GP victory by a comfortable margin.

Rookie Rins came out on top in an excellent scrap for second between himself, and the two EG 0,0 Marc VDS Kalex’s off Rabat and Alex Marquez. Rins made a move with 5 laps to go to secure second for his own, leapfrogging Rabat in the championship standings in the process.

Rabat (+5.527s) had led into the first corner and looked liked he could match the pace of Zarco in the early stages of the race, but after 8 laps you could visually see the rubber flying off his tyres. The reigning Moto2™ World Champion ran wide while fighting with his teammate Marquez for third on the penultimate lap, but managed to recover to take third and secure his fifth podium of the season.

Marquez (+6.489s) came from ninth on the gird to take his second fourth position in a row ahead of AGR Team’s Jonas Folger (+8.228s). Pole man and local hero, Speed Up Racing’s Sam Lowes, had a terrible start and was down in eighth by the end of the first lap. The British rider responded in front of his passionate home fans and fought back to cross the line in sixth.

Australian wet race specialist Anthony West (QMMF Racing) fought his way from 22nd on the grid to claim seventh. Sandro Cortese (Dynavolt Intact GP), Thomas Luthi (Derendinger Racing Interwetten), and Ricard Cardus (JP Moto Malaysia) completed the top ten.

There were crashes for wildcard Bradley Ray (FAB-Racing), Forward Racing duo Lorenzo Baldassari and Simone Corsi, plus Thitipong Warokorn (APH PTT The Pizza SAG).

Check out the full Moto2™ race results, and the latest Moto2™ World Championship standings.

Up next is the Gran Premio TIM di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini on 11th-13th September.

Silverstone, Sunday, August 30, 2015

1 25 5 Johann ZARCO FRA Ajo Motorsport Kalex 148.5 42'53.674 2 20 40 Alex RINS SPA Paginas Amarillas HP 40 Kalex 148.3 +3.360 3 16 1 Tito RABAT SPA EG 0,0 Marc VDS Kalex 148.2 +5.527 4 13 73 Alex MARQUEZ SPA EG 0,0 Marc VDS Kalex 148.1 +6.489 5 11 94 Jonas FOLGER GER AGR Team Kalex 148.0 +8.228 6 10 22 Sam LOWES GBR Speed Up Racing Speed Up 146.9 +28.261 7 9 95 Anthony WEST AUS QMMF Racing Team Speed Up 146.6 +33.902 8 8 11 Sandro CORTESE GER Dynavolt Intact GP Kalex 146.6 +33.939 9 7 12 Thomas LUTHI SWI Derendinger Racing Interwetten Kalex 146.5 +34.889 10 6 88 Ricard CARDUS SPA JPMoto Malaysia Suter 146.5 +35.084 11 5 23 Marcel SCHROTTER GER Tech 3 Tech 3 146.3 +38.814 12 4 4 Randy KRUMMENACHER SWI JIR Racing Team Kalex 146.3 +39.190 13 3 77 Dominique AEGERTER SWI Technomag Racing Interwetten Kalex 145.8 +47.780 14 2 30 Takaaki NAKAGAMI JPN IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia Kalex 145.3 +57.103 15 1 49 Axel PONS SPA AGR Team Kalex 145.1 +1'00.071 16  55 Hafizh SYAHRIN MAL Petronas Raceline Malaysia Kalex 145.0 +1'02.268 17  39 Luis SALOM SPA Paginas Amarillas HP 40 Kalex 144.9 +1'04.389 18  60 Julian SIMON SPA QMMF Racing Team Speed Up 144.9 +1'04.806 19  25 Azlan SHAH MAL IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia Kalex 144.7 +1'07.910 20  36 Mika KALLIO FIN Italtrans Racing Team Kalex 144.6 +1'08.594 21  2 Jesko RAFFIN SWI sports-millions-EMWE-SAG Kalex 144.5 +1'10.950 22  97 Xavi VIERGE SPA Tech 3 Tech 3 144.5 +1'11.354 23  70 Robin MULHAUSER SWI Technomag Racing Interwetten Kalex 143.0 +1'39.471 24  66 Florian ALT GER E-Motion IodaRacing Team Suter 142.3 +1'51.325 25  19 Xavier SIMEON BEL Federal Oil Gresini Moto2 Kalex 140.1 1 Lap 26  64 Federico CARICASULO ITA Italtrans Racing Team Kalex 133.5 1 Lap 27  96 Louis ROSSI FRA Tasca Racing Scuderia Moto2 Tech 3 127.5 2 Laps Not Classified   10 Thitipong WAROKORN THA APH PTT The Pizza SAG Kalex 142.0 2 Laps   7 Lorenzo BALDASSARRI ITA Forward Racing Kalex 141.0 5 Laps   3 Simone CORSI ITA Forward Racing Kalex 137.6 5 Laps   28 Bradley RAY GBR FAB-Racing FTR 138.0 16 Laps

Pole Lap:   Sam LOWES 2'06.345 168.1 Km/h

Fastest Lap: Lap: 18 Florian ALT 2'13.742 158.8 Km/h

Circuit Record Lap: 2013 Tito RABAT 2'07.186 166.9 Km/h

Best Lap:2015 Sam LOWES 2'06.345 168.1 Km/h