Moto2 Aragon 2015 Results

Drama was present from the outset of Moto2 Aragon 2015. The opening lap of the Moto2 was red flagged after a lap-one crash at turn 15 between Xavier Simeon (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2) and Dominique Aegerter (Technomag Racing Interwetten).

Simeon was able to restart the race, but Aegerter’s luck was much different. He was taken to the Alcaniz Hosptial where he was diagnosed with fractured vertebrae in his right wrist and fourth metacarpus of his right, along with some broken rips. MotoGP reports that Aegerter’s condition is good.

When the restarted race began – now reduced to 14 laps – the pole man Marc VDS Racing’s Tito Rabat got to turn one first. The reigning Moto2 Champion battled intensely with home favorite Alex Rins (Paginas Amarillas HP40), who lives around 20 minutes from Aragon.

Rabat, who claimed his 15th-career Moto2 pole, was able to hold off Rins by a mere 0.096 of a second to take his second win of 2015 Moto2. Finishing third was Speed up Racing’s Sam Lowes.

The man who could have clinched the Moto2 title at Aragon – Johann Zarco – finished sixth. His points lead was reduced to 78 points ahead of Rabat with four rounds to go.

Aragon Moto2 2015 Results – Official Recap

The re-started race was reduced to 14 laps.  Rabat led into turn 1 ahead of Rins and Lowes while Simone Corsi (Forward Racing) made a great start from 11th on the grid and was up to fifth by the end of the first lap.

It didn’t take Rins long to make his move into the lead while Championship leader Zarco found himself down in sixth as they crossed the line for the first time.

On lap two, Alex Marquez also went past Zarco, pushing the French Rider into seventh and Zarco started to see his chances of lifting the title at Aragon disappear as the front five opened up a two second gap. Paginas Amarillas HP40’s Luis Salom crashed out on lap three at turn nine while Simeon crashed again, this time at turn seven, to cap off a miserable day for the Belgian.

All the while Zarco was lapping almost a second slower than the front two and found himself dropping back into seventh. Unfortunately for the hard-charging Corsi he would run wide on lap four and dropped down to 14th.

With 10 laps to go Rins and Rabat were starting to pull away from Lowes in third and had opened up a 1.4 sconds gap at the front as the field began to spread out.

Rabat made his move on Rins into turn 1 under braking with eight laps to go to re-take the lead from Rins. Rabat’s teammate Alex Marquez was in sixth and had been closing down the men in front of him but crashed out with six laps to go.

The two leaders kept increasing their lead and with five laps to go the gap to Lowes was 2.6 seconds as it became clear that it would be a two horse race for the win. All the while Zarco was involved in an excellent battle for 6th with Takaaki Nakagami (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia), Lorenzo Baldassari (Forward Racing), Hafizh Syahrin (Petronas Raceline Malaysia) and a now recovered Corsi.

As the laps ticked down Rabat could not break Rins and the two remained inseparable at the front while Zarco made a move stick on Syahrin and was up into sixth by the penultimate lap.

Rabat led the way as they started the last lap, but it was obvious that a move from Rins was coming and it was a case of when not if. Rins tried it under braking into turn 12, but he ran a bit wide and Rabat fought back. Rabat lead down the back straight and despite almost running wide in the final corner he managed to hold on to take his 12th Moto2 career victory. In the process he ensured the championship battle would continue for at least one more round.

Rins’ excellent rookie season continues with his eigth podium finish in just his 14th Moto2 start, while Lowes crossed the line in third to claim his fourth rostrum of the season.

AGR Team’s Jonas Folger ended up having a rather lonely race in fourth after battling hard with Lowes at the start as he pulled off his best result since his win in Barcelona. Derendinger Racing Interwetten’s Luthi held off the late-charging Zarco to claim fifth, with the championship leader crossing the line in sixth.

Syahrin, Nakagami, Corsi and Baldassari completed the top 10 while there were also crashes for Federico Fuligni, Julian Simon and Edgar Pons.

This means that Zarco (284 points) still leads the standings from Rabat (206 points), with Rins in third (184 points).