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Moto2 Andalusia: Bastianini dominates for maiden win

Enea Bastianini dominated the Andalusian Grand Prix to claim his first Moto2 victory, while a hobbled Tetsuta Nagashima recovered to 11th to hold his championship lead

Debut Moto2 poleman Marco Bezzecchi nailed the launch off the line and held the lead at Turn 1 ahead of Bastianini and last week's Jerez race winner Luca Marini.

Italtrans rider Bastianini quickly dispatched the VR46 Kalex of Bezzecchi and immediately opened up an advantage of half a second at the front.

Marini quickly surmounted his VR46 team-mate Bezzecchi, who began to fall into the clutches of Sam Lowes on the Marc VDS Kalex as the top two opened up a buffer.

By lap five, Bastianini's advantage stood at around seven tenths, though Marini would cut this down to half a second two tours later.

A mistake for Bastianini at Turn 8 on lap 11 gave Marini a sniff, but the Italtrans rider defended his line well and kept himself in check over the next few tours as Marini hounded his lead.

Bastianini would start to edge away again on lap 14, re-establishing his lead at six tenths and continued to put more daylight between himself and Marini.

With five laps to go, Bastianini had pulled the pin and his lead over Marini opened out to 1.8s, with that gap extending to over two seconds over the final few tours.

Keeping it clean across the last laps, Bastianini eased to his first grand prix victory since the 2018 Moto3 Catalan GP and has announced himself as a championship contender.

Marini crossed the line in second, while team-mate Bezzecchi fended off a late charge from Lowes to secure his first Moto2 podium.

However, while both VR46 riders celebrated with each other after the chequered flag, they both had an embarrassing collision at between Turns 1 and 2. Both were unharmed.

Aron Canet got his Aspar bike to fifth ahead of KTM Ajo's Jorge Martin, while Tom Luthi was seventh on the Intact GP Kalex.

Xavi Vierge was eighth on the Petronas Sprinta machine ahead of MV Agusta's Stefano Manzi and the sister Intact bike of Marcel Schrotter, who mugged Nagashima at the final corner when the Japanese rider ran wide.

Nagashima took a heavy knock in a crash in FP3 on Saturday and could only qualify 15th, but maintains a slender championship lead on Bastianini by two points, with Marini five points back in third.

The all-Italian podium in Andalusia marks the first time this has happened in the intermediate class since Imola in 1998.

Pictures courtesy of Drona Sports

Moto2 Andalusia Results - 23 laps

Pos Rider Team Gap
1 Enea Bastianini Italtrans Racing Team 39m23.922s
2 Luca Marini SKY Racing Team VR46 2.153s
3 Marco Bezzecchi SKY Racing Team VR46 3.243s
4 Sam Lowes EG 0,0 Marc VDS 3.817s
5 Aron Canet Openbank Aspar Team Moto2 9.155s
6 Jorge Martin Red Bull KTM Ajo 11.988s
7 Thomas Luthi Liqui Moly Intact GP 13.857s
8 Xavi Vierge Petronas Sprinta Racing 19.590s
9 Stefano Manzi MV Agusta Forward Racing 20.199s
10 Marcel Schrotter Liqui Moly Intact GP 20.262s
11 Tetsuta Nagashima Red Bull KTM Ajo 20.447s
12 Nicolo Bulega Federal Oil Gresini Moto2 21.464s
13 Augusto Fernandez EG 0,0 Marc VDS 24.804s
14 Remy Gardner ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team 26.370s
15 Marcos Ramirez Tennor American Racing 27.018s
16 Edgar Pons Federal Oil Gresini Moto2 27.126s
17 Joe Roberts Tennor American Racing 30.228s
18 Fabio Di Giannantonio Beta Tools - Speed Up Racing 30.895s
19 Bo Bendsneyder NTS RW Racing GP 41.678s
20 Andi Izdihar Idemitsu Honda Team Asia 41.793s
- Lorenzo Baldassarri Flexbox HP 40 Retirement
- Simone Corsi MV Agusta Forward Racing Retirement
- Hafizh Syahrin Openbank Aspar Team Moto2 Retirement
- Jorge Navarro Beta Tools - Speed Up Racing Retirement
- Somkiat Chantra Idemitsu Honda Team Asia Retirement
- Hector Garzo Flexbox HP 40 Retirement
- Lorenzo Dalla Porta Italtrans Racing Team Retirement
- Kasma Kasmayudin ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team Retirement
- Jake Dixon Petronas Sprinta Racing Retirement
- Jesko Raffin NTS RW Racing GP Withdrawn

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