2015 Le Mans Moto2 Results
The 2015 Moto2 Championship headed to France’s famed Le Mans Bugatti Circuit for round five of 18.
Under sunny conditions, Thomas Luthi earned the first win of 2015 Moto2. The Derendinger Racing Interwetten pilot finished 1.767 seconds ahead of the reigning Moto2 Champion, Marc VDS Racing’s Tito Rabat, and 3.760 seconds ahead of Ajo Motorsports Johann Zarco.
Paginas Amarillas HP 40’s Alex Rins earned his debut Moto2 pole, but had a poor start, dropping to ninth off the line. Zarco took the early lead, but was passed by Luthi on lap five. From there, Luthi was unchallenged to earn the comfortable win.
“In the beginning I felt good and the bike worked well straight away. I felt like I had a little stronger pace than Johann but he was very strong on the brakes. It was a long race for us but we’ve made a good start and I’m looking forward to the rest of the season,”Rabat says.
As for Tito Rabat, he didn’t get the best start, and was pushed wide during the start. But he regained his rhythm, and battled through the gird. He was able to get into second, but couldn’t quite catch Luthi.
“I made a normal start but at the beginning I had to wait behind Zarco. When his tires went down I was faster and I was better through T1. Congratulations to Luthi for his win. I’m happy because we’re back on track and on the correct lines,” Rabat says.
Zarco did well before his home crowd, and didn’t want to push it too much, as he knew third would allow him to keep the points lead.
“The target was the victory, I had a good start and I took the chance to lead and try to run away. Luthi and Tito were both strong, Tito especially at the end. I don’t think I used too much tyre, Rabat was just more comfortable and carried more corner speed. I didn’t want to crash so I settled for third and the podium. I’m still leading the championship, so perfect,” Zarco says.
Zarco now has a 21 point lead over Luthi, with AGR Team’s Jonas Folger dropping to third following a DNF.
While the podium positions were settled, other spots inside the top ten certainly weren’t. Sam Lowes was safe in fourth, lamenting his tire gamble as he was just 0.3 of a second from a podium finish at the end of the race. The British rider continues to be the only Speed Up frame amongst the group of Kalex bikes in the top ten of the Moto2 standings, MotoGP reports.
Franco Morbidelli once again finished in fifth, his fourth fifth of the season so far. Both Alex Rins and Luis Salom fell while battling with the aggressive Italian, Salom and his bike rolling over Morbidelli as the pair came into contact. It was a difficult weekend for the Paginas Armarillas HP 40 team after Rins’ pole with both their riders crashing. Rins eventually remounted to finish 17th, MotoGP reports.
There was also disappointment for Alex Marquez who crashed along with Louis Rossi. The move up to Moto2 has been difficult for the younger Marquez, having had a high number of crashes in testing and practice sessions. Despite struggles early in the weekend this is the first race in which Marquez has failed to score points. Mika Kallio was another faller. All riders were uninjured, MotoGP reports.
The Moto2 season now breaks for two weeks ahead of round six at Mugello.