Marc Marquez (Team Caixa Catalunya Repsol – Suter) expanded his Moto2 championship lead to 43 points with a nearly flag-to-flag victory, his fourth win of the season, in the first race of the day.
The Spaniard jetted away from his sixth pole in eight races to set the early pace. Soon he was joined by Andrea Iannone (Speed Master – Speed Up), who slotted into second with a pass of Mika Kallio (Marc VDS Racing Team – Kalex) on the fourth of 29 laps.
Iannone passed Marquez for the lead in the turn 12 left on the eighth lap and held the point until the first turn on lap nine, when Marquez out braked the Italian.
Two laps later Iannone’s victory chances were dashed when he crashed in turn 1. Iannone remounted and finished 18th, and out of the points.
Now it was Marquez and Kallio out front, with company from Alex de Angelis (NGM Mobile Forward Racing), who had switched from the Suter to the FTR chassis for the race in Assen. De Angelis immediately adapted to the British-made chassis, setting a new record fastest lap of 1m, 25.167s on the sixth lap of the race.
De Angelis lost second to Kallio on the 15th lap and was not able to find a way past until lap 27. By then Marquez had disappeared with a trio of fast laps. Marquez increased his lead by nearly a second from laps 24 to 26, ending the lap with a cushion of 1.428s. He would go on to win by 2.093s.
Marc Marquez, Team CatalunyaCaixa Repsol-Suter: Race winner
“I knew that I had to start strong, because both (Andrea) Iannone and (Pol) Espargaró were starting from a little further back and I could make a real difference early. However, with the new tyres I couldn't feel comfortable. The feeling improved when the grip dropped, but then I started to have problems with the rear chattering on the corners stopped me from maintaining the pace that I had in practice. I think that we rode an intelligent race, because when I saw that Iannone was getting closer I was about to drop back in order to save the tyres but instead decided to push. When I saw his crash on the screens I just looked to keep focus. It was very difficult to manage the entire race with such a small advantage, but it worked out well and I was able to open up the gap later on with the tyres worn down.”
Catalunya Caixa Press Release
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