Michele Pirro gives Gresini victory in Valencia Moto2 race

Gresini had agonised over whether to race at Valencia at all in the wake of Simoncelli's death.

Its riders Pirro and Yuki Takahashi then timed their qualifying runs perfectly to take a poignant first and second on the Moto2 grid before rain fell yesterday.

In treacherous, drizzly conditions today, Takahashi took an early lead in a battle with Technomag-CIP's Dominique Aegerter, while Pirro initially fell to fifth.

The Italian worked his way back through to second by the time Takahashi had a huge crash at Turn 6 on the sixth lap. He was declared okay at the circuit's medical centre, but taken to hospital for precautionary checks.

Pirro led to the finish thereafter, with team boss Fausto Gresini in floods of tears on the pit wall as his rider crossed the line to claim his maiden Moto2 victory.

Mika Kallio (Marc VDS) ended a tough season on a high by beating Aegerter to second, after long-time second-place man Yonny Hernandez ran off the road late on and fell to sixth. That meant he finished the race in the middle of a huge dice won by MZ's Anthony West, with Kenny Noyes fifth, and Mike di Meglio and Xavier Simeon coming home right behind Hernandez.

Champion Stefan Bradl was one of many riders to crash in the tricky conditions, falling on lap four. Scott Redding and Bradley Smith were among those who did likewise, though both rejoined.

Results - 27 laps:

Pos  Rider                  Team/Bike               Time/Gap
 1.  Michele Pirro          Gresini Moriwaki      46m22.205s
 2.  Mika Kallio            Marc VDS Suter          + 6.150s
 3.  Dominique Aegerter     Technomag-CIP Suter     + 6.363s
 4.  Anthony West           MZ                      + 8.843s
 5.  Kenny Noyes            Avintia FTR             + 9.229s
 6.  Yonny Hernandez        Blusens FTR             + 9.926s
 7.  Mike di Meglio         Tech 3                 + 10.115s
 8.  Xavier Simeon          Tech 3                 + 10.385s
 9.  Max Neukirchner        MZ                     + 13.018s
10.  Julian Simon           Aspar Suter            + 13.685s
11.  Andrea Iannone         Speed Master Suter     + 14.686s
12.  Alex de Angelis        JIR Motobi             + 15.200s
13.  Jules Cluzel           Forward Suter          + 18.428s
14.  Pol Espargaro          Speed Up FTR           + 19.177s
15.  Claudio Corti          Italtrans Suter        + 20.356s
16.  Randy Krummenacher     Kiefer Kalex           + 26.031s
17.  Thomas Luthi           Interwetten Suter      + 27.160s
18.  Jordi Torres           Aspar Suter            + 33.813s
19.  Alex Baldolini         G22 Moriwaki           + 46.003s
20.  Kenan Sofuoglu         Technomag-CIP Suter    + 49.635s
21.  Aleix Espargaro        Pons KalexKalex      + 1m12.187s
22.  Santiago Hernandez     SAG FTR              + 1m14.567s
23.  Bradley Smith          Tech 3               + 1m15.394s
24.  Robertino Pietri       Italtrans Suter      + 1m16.767s
25.  Elena Rosell           Aspar Suter          + 1m19.893s
26.  Joan Olive             Castello FTR         + 1m22.339s
27.  Mashel Al Naimi        QMMF Moriwaki            + 1 lap
28.  Oscar Climent          Climent Mir              + 1 lap
29.  Nasser Hasan Al Malki  QMMF Moriwaki            + 1 lap
30.  Scott Redding          Marc VDS Suter           + 1 lap

Retirements:

     Raffaele de Rosa       Forward Suter            25 laps
     Simone Corsi           Ioda Project FTR         25 laps
     Valentin Debise        Speed Up FTR             20 laps
     Ratthapark Wilairot    SAG FTR                  13 laps
     Mattia Pasini          Ioda Project FTR         10 laps
     Esteve Rabat           Blusens FTR               6 laps
     Yuki Takahashi         Gresini Moriwaki          5 laps
     Stefan Bradl           Kiefer Kalex              4 laps