Moto2: Takahashi takes maiden victory
Yuki Takahashi benefited from a ride-through penalty for long-time leader Andrea Iannone to take his and the Tech 3 team's maiden Moto2 victory at the Catalan Grand Prix at Barcelona
The Japanese rider ran third on the opening lap as Thomas Luthi and Toni Elias fought for the lead initially and pole-sitter Iannone dropped to fourth.
Behind them though, a first corner collision triggered by Alex Debon's Ajo-run FTR knocked off seven riders, including championship challenger Shoya Tomizawa and Mike di Meglio.
As the leaders approached the scene on the second lap, yellow flags were being waved, but Iannone still overtook Takahashi for third - a move that would come back to haunt him later on.
Initially Iannone was instructed by race control, and by the Fimco Speed Up team, to hand back the position to Takahashi, who had made his way back up to second after dropping as low as fourth early on.
However, he did not, leading officials to hand him a ride-through penalty, which he took while four seconds in front on lap 15, dropping him outside the points.
This left Takahashi in a comfortable lead and he duly rounded off the remaining eight laps to seal his first grand prix win in any class for four years by 5.037 seconds.
Behind him Luthi and Julian Simon had a terrific scrap for second that went in favour of the Interwetten Moriwaki rider. Luthi and Aspar Suter rider Simon now lie second and third in the championship.
Karel Abraham took his best finish in grand prix racing with fourth place on his Cardion FTR, the Czech rider battling for the second half of the race with Simone Corsi and Toni Elias, but breaking clear of the pair with a couple of laps left.
Elias (Gresini Moriwaki) dived inside Corsi's JiR Motobi at La Caixa on the final lap to steal fifth and keep his championship lead intact, even if Luthi's result allowed him to reduce the Spaniard's advantage from 24 points to 17.
Kenny Noyes equalled his best finish in Moto2 with seventh on his Jack & Jones Promo Harris, but came under a lot of late pressure from grand prix debutant Carmelo Morales late on.
Morales was the victim of an horrific accident on the run to the finish line after the front tyre on his Pons Kalex bike briefly touched Noyes's rear. The touch launched Morales and bike into the air, the rider being hit twice by his machine, which then flew into the catch-fencing opposite the finish line.
An initial message from race officials indicated that Morales was: "deemed to be okay by the medical centre, but remaining under observation."
A rule that mandates that a rider must be on his bike to appear in the race results meant that despite crossing the line, the Spaniard was not classified.
The remaining top 10 places therefore went to Fonsi Nieto (Holiday Gym Moriwaki), Anthony West (MZ) and Alex de Angelis (Scot), who moves up to MotoGP for the next race in Germany. Iannone recovered to 13th place following his penalty.
Pos Rider Bike Time/Gap 1. Yuki Takahashi Tech 3 41m42.451s 2. Thomas Luthi Moriwaki + 5.037s 3. Julian Simon Suter + 5.200s 4. Karel Abraham FTR + 6.706s 5. Toni Elias Moriwaki + 7.369s 6. Simone Corsi Motobi + 7.414s 7. Kenny Noyes Promo Harris + 17.010s 8. Fonsi Nieto Moriwaki + 20.555s 9. Anthony West MZ + 21.001s 10. Alex de Angelis Force + 21.369s 11. Gabor Talmacsi Speed Up + 22.213s 12. Yonny Hernandez BQR + 23.024s 13. Andrea Iannone Speed Up + 25.297s 14. Jules Cluzel Suter + 26.674s 15. Yusuke Teshima Motobi + 26.796s 16. Raffaele De Rosa Tech 3 + 27.441s 17. Arne Tode Suter + 27.674s 18. Vladimir Ivanov Moriwaki + 35.193s 19. Jordi Torres Promo Harris + 37.424s 20. Valentin Debise ADV + 41.504s 21. Joan Olive Promo Harris + 41.710s 22. Claudio Corti Suter + 41.966s 23. Ricard Cardus Suter + 49.224s 24. Xavier Simeon Moriwaki + 1m03.470s 25. Sergio Gadea Pons Kalex + 1m12.814s 26. Mashel Al Naimi BQR + 1m22.796s Retirements: Carmelo Morales Pons Kalex 22 laps Bernat Martinez Bimota 20 laps Alex Baldolini ICP 19 laps Scott Redding Suter 12 laps Ratthapark Wilairot Bimota 9 laps Dani Rivas Promo Harris 4 laps Shoya Tomizawa Suter 4 laps Niccolo Canepa Force 3 laps Lukas Pesek Moriwaki 3 laps Vladimir Leonov Suter 1 lap Dominique Aegerter Suter 1 lap Hector Faubel Suter 1 lap Robertino Pietri Suter 0 laps Roberto Rolfo Suter 0 laps Alex Debon FTR 0 laps Mike di Meglio Suter 0 laps
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