Team CatalunyaCaixa Repsol’s Marc Márquez was crowned Moto2™ World Champion at today’s AirAsia Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island after coming third in an enthralling race won by Tuenti Movil HP 40’s Pol Espargaró with Anthony West second.

Pole-man Espargaró had a bad start as he was taken by Italtrans Racing Team’s Takaaki Nakagami, Márquez and Interwetten-Paddock’s Tom Lüthi in the first few bends. Yet within one lap Espargaró was leading Márquez as the Spanish duo started to spar, in front of Marc VDS Racing Team’s Scott Redding, Nakagami and JiR Moto2’s Johann Zarco.

A lap later and Espargaró already looked in a league of his own as he had already pulled out a significant gap over Márquez in second. With 20 laps to go Speed Master’s Andrea Iannone retired with an engine problem, as Redding made his way past Márquez into second, as QMMF Racing’s Anthony West led a big group for fourth, with Technomag-CIP’s Dominique Aegerter and Came IodaRacing Project’s Simone Corsi in tow.


With 12 laps remaining Redding had not dropped off Márquez, whilst Espargaró had pulled out an enormous gap of over eight seconds. Meanwhile Lüthi looked to be struggling as he had dropped into 12th, while Espargaró’s teammate Esteve Rabat had fought his way up to sixth. And couple of laps later Lüthi’s race got even worse as he crashed out, citing a rear tyre issue. Eight laps before the end and West had dropped off his group and was edging ever closer to Márquez to challenge for third.

The pursuing group fighting for fifth saw Marc VDS’ Mika Kallio and GP Team Switzerland’s Randy Krummenacher join the fight as the six of them we bunched tightly. With three laps left West made his move on Márquez much to the delight of the local crowd. The Australian then tried a move on Redding, but couldn’t make it stick, as Kallio was forced to drop his bike into the gravel after being bumped by Corsi. The action was then back at the front again as West made a brave move into second, only to then be dramatically followed by Márquez in the final corner, relegating Redding to fourth.

Espargaró took the chequered flag with an enormous margin of over 16 seconds, with West taking his second ever Moto2™ podium in front of an ecstatic home crowd. The final spots on the rostrum went to Márquez, who is now the fifth Spanish rider to have won the intermediate-class, and the first to do so on a Suter bike. The first non-podium finisher in fourth was Redding ahead of Aegerter, Zarco, Corsi, Rabat, Krummenacher and Nakagami.

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