Moto2 Results
The Moto2 racing action has so far been fiercely competitive and Toni Elias once again confounded the disbelievers with another stunning motorcycle racing victory that surprised even Team Gresini.
Elias entered the German GP race at Sachsenring the after a difficult qualifying session on Saturday. During that session there were no signs of the dominance that the last-years MotoGP rider would eventually showed in a stunning racing accomplishment.
At the start, Elias dropped back to 11th place but mounted an incredible recovery to win by a clear margin and put himself firmly back in the championship driving seat.
There were celebrations on both sides of the Team Gresini garage as Vladimir Ivanov picked up his first World Championship points – a result that is every bit as good as a win for the Russian rookie.
Toni Elias (Moto2 Winner) says: “I am very happy for a variety of reasons today – firstly because I have won again and enjoyed myself, unlike the wins at Jerez or Le Mans. Secondly we have made a massive step forward with the set-up, using the data from the recent test at Aragon and making gradual progress throughout practice before making the definitive step in quality at the end of qualifying.”
“We made another little change today and the bike worked perfectly in the race. Our start wasn´t the best and I got shoved around in the first corner but I started to work my way back from eleventh place and got up to Iannone, who is the form rider in the championship at the moment.”
“I thought it would be really difficult to catch him and even if I did I expected a tough fight to the end but it turned out to be quite easy and I won with a big gap. We are leading the championship and now I think I deserve a few days off!”
Vladimir Ivanov (14th) says: “Incredible! I have finally scored my first points and that gives me a lot of pleasure on a day that Elias won again. It´s a great day for myself and for Team Gresini. I have achieved my first objective sooner than we expected and it feels great!”
Fausto Gresini says: “A truly fantastic day! After the start I really didn´t think a recovery like that was possible but he believed in himself, stayed calm and soon began to set good lap times and make some aggressive passes.”
“It was exciting to watch right to the end, when he had to grit his teeth and hang on with used tyres. It is an important victory for the championship and even though we don´t want to think about that just yet we can enjoy leading Moto2 until we´re next on track at Brno. It was a great day all round, with Vladimir Ivanov scoring his first points. He looked like he´d just won the race too – fantastic!”
With eight races done and nine to go of the 2010 Moto2 series, Elias now leads the championship by 42 points from Thomas Luthi (Interwetten Moriwaki Moto2, Moriwaki) who slid out of today’s race.
Iannone sits a further four points behind Luthi. Julian Simon (Mapfre Aspar Team, Suter) dropped one place to fourth overall after he too crashed out of the German GP race at the Sachsenring.
