Xavier Simeon at Sachsenring Moto2 2015For the first time of his six-year Moto2 career, the Belgian Federal Oil Gresini pilot Xavier Simeon claimed victory. Simeon fought hard with Ajo Motorsports Johann Zarco for the victory, eventually earning his debut Moto2 win ahead of Zarco by a mere 0.083 of a second.Taking the final podium was Paginas Amarillas HP 40’s Alex Rins, who finished in a lonely third, 1.646 seconds behind Simeon and nearly five seconds ahead of fourth-place finisher Simone Corsi on the Athina Forward Racing Honda.
The reigning Moto2 Champion, Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Racing’s Tito Rabat, was in contention for third, but was taken out on the final lap by Franco Morbidelli (Italtrans Racing Team) at turn 13. Both riders suffered DNFs as the 25-year-old Simeon took the win.“I’m so happy! We did a good time in qualifying and I knew I was consistently fast, but we had to think very hard about tyre choice because the two different tires we could use were very similar,” Simeon says following Sachsenring Moto2 2015.Tito Rabat and Morbidelli crash“We changed at the last minute on the grid and that was the key – at the end of the race I could push just as hard as at the beginning. In the early laps there were some big battles, so I took it a bit easy, then when I saw Johann going away I passed Morbidelli and pushed so hard to make sure Johann couldn’t get way. Then I knew I could win, if I rode at 200 percent and made no mistakes.”Ahead of Sachsenring Moto2 2015, Zarco earned his third-straight pole. But when the race began, he dropped to third at turn one, passed Morbidelli. But Zarco quickly regained the lead.Most riders during Sachsenring Moto2 2015 were on a medium front tire, but Morbidelli was on a soft option. This came into play as the race went on; he challenged Zarco for the first half, but his tire began to wear and he was passed by Simeon at turn 12 with nine laps remaining.Simeon began pushing, and passed Zarco with four laps to go. Zarco would remain right on Simeon’s exhaust, but couldn’t make a pass for the win. Simeon became the first Belgian to win a World Championship race since 1983.”I made a good race and a good pace, I was confident because my bike was very good all weekend. A lot of times in the past I’ve started from the first row but I didn’t take the opportunity to get on the podium, so this time I thought ok, I’ll take it,” Simeon says.Fourth-place Corsi finished ahead of Speed Up Racing’s Sam Lowes and Derendinger Racing Interwetten’s Thomas Luthi in fifth and sixth, respectively. Rounding out the top 10 at Sachsenring Moto2 2015 were Takaaki Nakagami (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia), Lorenzo Baldassarri (Athiná Forward Racing), Julián Simón (QMMF Racing Team) and Dominique Aegerter (Technomag Racing Interwetten).Moto2 now breaks for four weeks ahead of round 10 of 18 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.Sachsenring Moto2 2015 Results:
