Rain threatened this weekend’s Moto2 race at Circuit of the Americas just outside of Austin, and the white flag with the red cross signifying wet conditions did wave with 16 of 19 laps to go.
But luckily, the Moto2 race wasn’t a washout, and only certain sections of the track were affected by the slight rain. Regardless of the threat of rain, one rider was able to remain completely focused to earn his first-ever Moto2 victory – Britain’s Sam Lowes.
The Speed Up Racing pilot was joined on the podium by Ajo Motorsport’s Johann Zarco and Paginas Amarillas HP 40’s Alex Rins.
When the 19-lap race began at the 3.426-mile COTA circuit with multiple elevation changes and 20 corners, the reigning Moto2 Champioin Tito Rabat got through turn one first aboard the Marc VDS Kalex machine.
But Rabat’s lead was short lived; Zarco took over first on the opening lap, followed by Lowes. From there, these two began to open up a gap on the field. Behind, Federal Oil Gresini Moto2’s Xavier Simeon and Rins began chasing down the lead riders, finally catching them with 11 to go.
Lowes kept closing in on Zarco, and took the lead with six laps to go. From there, he began pulling away as Zarco and Simeon tried to play catchup. Unluckily for Simeon, he crashed out after making contact with Zarco. The incident was investigated by Race Direction, but no rider was at fault.
Lowes, who suffered huge crashes in practice and qualifying, would take the win by 1.999 seconds ahead of Zarco, with Rins finishing a further 4.622 seconds behind.
Rabat finished fourth, ahead of the Italtrans Racing Team Kalex of Franco Morbidelli and Hafizh Syarin, who claimed sixth place for his Petronas Raceline Malaysia Team. Rounding out the top 10 were QMMF Racing Team’s Anthony West, Italtrans Racing Team’s Mika Kallio, West’s teammate Julian Simon and IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia’s Takaaki Nakagami.
Due to his fourth place at the season opener in Qatar, and third Sunday in Texas, Rins now has the Moto2 points lead with 29, one point ahead of Zarco.
The series now heads to Argentina’s Termas de rio Hondo for round three.
2015 Austin Moto2 Results from Circuit of the Americas:
Pos. | Points | Num. | Rider | Nation | Team | Bike | Km/h | Time/Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 25 | 22 | Sam LOWES | GBR | Speed Up Racing | Speed Up | 150.5 | 41’45.565 |
2 | 20 | 5 | Johann ZARCO | FRA | Ajo Motorsport | Kalex | 150.3 | +1.999 |
3 | 16 | 40 | Alex RINS | SPA | Paginas Amarillas HP 40 | Kalex | 150.2 | +4.622 |
4 | 13 | 1 | Tito RABAT | SPA | EG 0,0 Marc VDS | Kalex | 149.9 | +8.975 |
5 | 11 | 21 | Franco MORBIDELLI | ITA | Italtrans Racing Team | Kalex | 149.7 | +12.976 |
6 | 10 | 55 | Hafizh SYAHRIN | MAL | Petronas Raceline Malaysia | Kalex | 149.6 | +14.168 |
7 | 9 | 95 | Anthony WEST | AUS | QMMF Racing Team | Speed Up | 149.4 | +17.271 |
8 | 8 | 36 | Mika KALLIO | FIN | Italtrans Racing Team | Kalex | 149.4 | +17.513 |
9 | 7 | 60 | Julian SIMON | SPA | QMMF Racing Team | Speed Up | 149.4 | +17.689 |
10 | 6 | 30 | Takaaki NAKAGAMI | JPN | IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia | Kalex | 149.4 | +17.764 |
11 | 5 | 3 | Simone CORSI | ITA | AthinĂ Forward Racing | Kalex | 149.4 | +17.982 |
12 | 4 | 12 | Thomas LUTHI | SWI | Derendinger Racing Interwetten | Kalex | 149.0 | +24.824 |
13 | 3 | 23 | Marcel SCHROTTER | GER | Tech 3 | Tech 3 | 148.9 | +26.016 |
14 | 2 | 11 | Sandro CORTESE | GER | Dynavolt Intact GP | Kalex | 148.8 | +27.456 |
15 | 1 | 73 | Alex MARQUEZ | SPA | EG 0,0 Marc VDS | Kalex | 148.8 | +28.568 |
16 | 94 | Jonas FOLGER | GER | AGR Team | Kalex | 148.7 | +29.889 | |
17 | 88 | Ricard CARDUS | SPA | Tech 3 | Tech 3 | 148.3 | +36.405 | |
18 | 77 | Dominique AEGERTER | SWI | Technomag Racing Interwetten | Kalex | 148.2 | +38.693 | |
19 | 25 | Azlan SHAH | MAL | IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia | Kalex | 148.1 | +40.581 | |
20 | 70 | Robin MULHAUSER | SWI | Technomag Racing Interwetten | Kalex | 148.0 | +41.504 | |
21 | 4 | Randy KRUMMENACHER | SWI | JIR Racing Team | Kalex | 147.5 | +50.471 | |
22 | 96 | Louis ROSSI | FRA | Tasca Racing Scuderia Moto2 | Tech 3 | 146.4 | +1’08.825 | |
23 | 10 | Thitipong WAROKORN | THA | APH PTT The Pizza SAG | Kalex | 146.3 | +1’10.990 | |
24 | 2 | Jesko RAFFIN | SWI | sports-millions-EMWE-SAG | Kalex | 146.3 | +1’11.138 | |
25 | 66 | Florian ALT | GER | Octo Iodaracing Team | Suter | 145.8 | +1’19.442 | |
26 | 7 | Lorenzo BALDASSARRI | ITA | AthinĂ Forward Racing | Kalex | 145.5 | +1’25.405 | |
27 | 39 | Luis SALOM | SPA | Paginas Amarillas HP 40 | Kalex | 145.1 | +1’32.876 | |
Not Classified | ||||||||
19 | Xavier SIMEON | BEL | Federal Oil Gresini Moto2 | Kalex | 150.1 | 4 Laps | ||
51 | Zaqhwan ZAIDI | MAL | JPMoto Malaysia | Suter | 144.4 | 7 Laps |