2017 Le Mans Moto2 Results: Franco Morbidelli claims the win
2017 Le Mans Moto2 Results
Franco Morbidelli began his fourth year in Moto2 in dominate fashion, the 22-year-old Italian winning the opening three rounds in Qatar, Argentina and Texas. But at Jerez, the Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS pilot crashed out, suffering a DNF.Morbidelli was seeking redemption at round five of 2017 Moto2 held at Le Mans, and he got it. “Fast Franky” was able to hold off a charging Sky Racing Team VR46’s Francesco Bagnaia to claim his fourth win in five races.
Bagnaia crossed the line 1.714 seconds behind Morbidelli, with CarXpert Interwetten’s Thomas Luthi claiming the final podium position 5.837 seconds behind.2017 Le Mans Moto2 Results: Franco Morbidelli claims the winFollowing is from the official 2017 Le Mans Moto2 Results race report:Lüthi got the best launch off the line, with Morbidelli moving up past Bagnaia as the two fought it out through the first corners and it looked like the Swiss rider could escape.Luca Marini (Forward Racing Team) crashed early, and Alex Marquez (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS) slotting into the chase behind the top three as another to make a good start.Morbidelli didn’t leave it long to pounce for the lead up front, with a stunning duel then unfolding between the Champion leader and his Swiss challenger before Lüthi ran wide as Morbidelli moved up the inside – and the number 12 found himself pushed back to fourth.That left Bagnaia and Marquez chasing the Championship leader out front and Lüthi regrouping, with Mattia Pasini (Italtrans Racing Team) lurking in fifth.Bagnaia held firm closely behind Morbidelli in the lead, with a small gap appearing back to Lüthi as he tried to attack Marquez – but the rider from Cervera was holding firm. With a handful of laps to go the Swiss rider made it stick, leaving Marquez to bring it home in P4 after an impressive display despite a small fracture in his foot sustained on Saturday.Lorenzo Baldassarri (Forward Racing Team) was a high profile crasher out of the top ten in a difficult day for the team, with Dominique Aegerter (Kiefer Racing) then left in a gap behind Pasini to fly the flag as fastest Suter once again in sixth. Takaaki Nakagami (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia) took a solid seventh ahead of Simone Corsi (Speed Up Racing) after passing the Italian late on, with Xavi Vierge (Tech 3 Racing) in ninth ahead of more good form from Yonny Hernandez (AGR Team) to complete the top ten.2017 Le Mans Moto2 Results: PodiumHafizh Syahrin (Petronas Raceline Malaysia) took P11 in a solid points scoring finish, ahead of Marcel Schrötter (Dynavolt Intact GP) and Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Ricky Cardus. Sandro Cortese (Dynavolt Intact GP) took points in P14, with Axel Pons (RW Racing GP) locking out the fastest 15.With his win, Morbidelli now has 100 points, 20 ahead of Luthi and 38 ahead of Marquez, the brother of three-time MotoGP Champion Marc Marquez.The 2017 Moto2 series now breaks for two weeks ahead of the Italian Grand Prix at Mugello, a home race for Morbidelli.
Hello everyone and welcome once again to Ultimate Motorcycling’s weekly Podcast—Motos and Friends.
My name is Arthur Coldwells.
This week’s Podcast is brought to you by Yamaha motorcycles. Discover how the YZF-R7 provides the perfect balance of rider comfort and true supersport performance by checking it out at YamahaMotorsports.com, or see it for yourself at your local dealer.
This week’s episode features Senior Editor Nic de Sena’s impressions of the beautiful new Harley-Davidson Low Rider ST that is loosely based around the original FXRT Sport Glide from the 1980s. Hailing from The Golden State, these cult-status performance machines became known as West Coast style, with sportier suspension, increased horsepower, and niceties including creature comforts such as a tidy fairing and sporty luggage.
In past episodes you might have heard us mention my best friend, Daniel Schoenewald, and in the second segment I chat with him about some of the really special machines in his 170 or so—and growing—motorcycle collection. He’s always said to me that he doesn’t consider himself the owner, merely the curator of the motorcycles for the next generation.
Yet Daniel is not just a collector, but I can attest a really skilled rider. His bikes are not trailer queens, they’re ridden, and they’re ridden pretty hard. Actually, we have had many, many memorable rides on pretty much all of the machines in the collection at one time or another.
From all of us here at Ultimate Motorcycling, we hope you enjoy this episode!
