Andrea Iannone (Speed Master) mastered the rain at the Andalusian circuit to take his fourth victory in the Moto2 series at the Gran Premio bwin de España. Joining him on the rostrum were Thomas Lüthi (Interwetten Paddock Moto2) and Simone Corsi (Ioda Racing Project).

Lüthi took the early control in the race and was on course for his first win in Moto2, until the Italian rider passed him for the lead and pulled a large advantage. His winning margin was 7.850s. Building on the second place the Speed Master rider achieved in Losail, Iannone takes the lead of the 2011 World Championship after scoring 25 points for the win.

The race started in damp conditions and then more rain fell throughout the race leading to a slippery and difficult circuit. Starting from 18th position Simone Corsi (Ioda Racing Project), the Italian, was leading the race after a lap and half, but was caught by Iannone and the Swiss rider and took the final spot on the rostrum to take his third podium in the intermediate class.

Bradley Smith (Tech 3) who started from fifth, finished in fourth place in only his second ever Moto2 race. The British youngster made up places at the start and briefly held the lead. With a few laps to go, he was in fifth place until Stefan Bradl (Viessmann Kiefer Racing) made a costly error when he nearly lost control of his bike and Smith was there to reclaim his fourth position.


Bradl had been aiming to become the first German rider to win back-to-back races in the intermediate class since Ralf Waldmann in 1996 but dropped a handful of places at the start and it was a case of damage limitation. Luthi and Bradl now share second place in the standings.

Julián Simón (Mapfre Aspar) was the first Spanish rider to cross the line in seventh place, ahead of Alex de Angelis (JiR Moto2) who salvaged seventh position after a ride through penalty for jumping the start. Scotsman Kev Coghlan (Team Aeroport de Castelló) finished in eighth place after qualifying back in 24th position, scoring his first Grand Prix points. Coghlan’s previous best result was 22nd and this was only his fourth race in the Moto2 series.

Rookie Michele Pirro (Gresini Racing Moto2) took ninth place and it was a titanic tussle until the final corner between the team mates at (MZ Racing). Anthony West after a good showing in the morning warm up, was in tenth place after qualifying down in 30th, but was beaten to the chequered flag by Max Neukirchner and dropped to 11th.

Yuki Takahashi (Gresini Racing) who had been involved in the fight for third, crashed out at high speed at turn 12 losing front grip and missed out on a potential 16 points.

It was a bad weekend for Scott Redding ((Marc VDS Racing) after crashing yesterday in qualifying today, he slipped down the order to eventually finish 23rd. American Kenny Noyes (Avintia-STX) crashed during the race and was in 29th place.

Marc Márquez (Team CatalunyaCaixa Repsol) failed to pick up his first points of his Moto2 debut season after Jules Cluzel (Forward Racing) was unable to stop his bike in time and rain into the back of the current 125cc World Champion after a battle for sixth place. The incident put them both out of the race and the Forward Racing rider was quick to offer his apologies to the 18 year old.