Moto2: Simoncelli dominates at Estoril

The Gilera rider, after an ordinary start from third on the grid and a difficult first lap that saw him drop back to sixth, set two consecutive fastest laps that put him in the lead on lap four.

From then on, the Italian kept his rivals under control, and managed to open a gap as wide as six seconds over the last ten laps.

The battle for second place was fought between the Aprilias of Hector Barbera (Pepe) and Mike di Meglio (Aspar). When the pair crossed the finish line, the timing screens showed Barbera ahead of di Meglio by 0.001 seconds, but TV footage showed them completely abreast.

Some 15 minutes later, the timing screens were amended to show that the two riders completed the race in exactly the same time, with the rule book stating that in case of ties, the riders concerned will be ranked in the order of the best lap time made during the race.

That resulted in di Meglio beating Barbera to second, with the two riders switching positions on the podium just as celebrations were about to start.

Championship leader Hiroshi Aoyama classified in a strong fourth place with his Scot Honda, thanks also to the accidents of the rivals ahead.

His team-mate Raffaele de Rosa crashed out of second place on lap six, while title rival Alvaro Bautista crashed his Aspar Aprilia on the previous lap when his engine sized. The crash came seconds after Barbera tried to overtake him for second place and pushed both wide to allow de Rosa through.

Jules Cluzel classified his Matteoni Aprilia fifth, followed by Ratthapark Wilairot on the Thai Honda, Tomas Luthi on the Emmi Aprilia, and Mattia Paini on the Globalgest Aprilia.

CLASSIFIED:

Pos  Rider             Bike     Time
 1.  Marco Simoncelli  Gilera   44m04.298s   
 2.  Mike Di Meglio    Aprilia  +   5.317s
 3.  Hector Barbera    Aprilia  +   5.317s
 4.  Hiroshi Aoyama    Honda    +  12.024s
 5.  Jules Cluzel      Aprilia  +  14.349s
 6.  R.Wilairot        Honda    +  18.256s
 7.  Thomas Luthi      Aprilia  +  27.631s
 8.  Mattia Pasini     Aprilia  +  34.667s
 9.  Alex Debon        Aprilia  +  45.410s
10.  Karel Abraham     Aprilia  +  45.891s
11.  Lukas Pesek       Aprilia  +  46.204s
12.  Shuhei Aoyama     Honda    +  57.641s
13.  Valentin Debise   Honda    +1m21.309s
14.  Alex Baldolini    Aprilia  +1m35.277s
15.  Axel Pons         Aprilia  + 1 lap
16.  Balazs Nemeth     Aprilia  + 1 lap
17.  Bastien Chesaux   Aprilia  + 1 lap
18.  Imre Toth         Aprilia  + 1 lap
19.  C.Moretti         Aprilia  + 2 laps

NOT CLASSIFIED/RETIREMENTS:

     Rider             Bike     Laps
     Vladimir Leonov   Aprilia   24
     Shoya Tomizawa    Honda     12
     R.Locatelli       Gilera     9
     Raffaele De Rosa  Honda      7
     Alvaro Bautista   Aprilia    4
     Hector Faubel     Honda      4

FASTEST LAP: Simoncelli, 1m40.863s on lap 17