Misano Preview, Moto2
Toni Elías holds a commanding Moto2 Championship lead with seven rounds – including Misano – remaining. The Gresini racing rider is 67 points clear at the top of the standings, a position which was reinforced by his fifth win of the season last time out at Indianapolis.
The result in the U.S. was the Spaniard’s third successive win, the first time he has secured a treble of back-to-back victories in his GP career, and he has an impressive record at Misano. In 2008 he finished on the podium in the premier class and was sixth last year.
His closest challenger in the race for the title remains Andrea Iannone and the Fimmco Speed Up rider showed his resilience in the previous round. A crash at the beginning of qualifying in Indianapolis resulted in an injured ankle and restricted the Italian to a start from 25th on the grid, but he still rode to fourth place. He has a best result of sixth at Misano in the 125cc class from two years ago.
Level on 108 points in third and fourth are Thomas Lüthi (Interwetten Moriwaki) and Julián Simón (Mapfre Aspar). The Swiss rider has a best result of fourth at Misano in the 250cc class, whilst Simón won there last year on his way to the 125cc title and is fresh off the back of a second-placed finish from pole in Indy.
Simone Corsi (JiR Moto2) is another rider who put in a highly impressive ride in the U.S. after the Italian started from the back of the grid. He finished fifth and has been on the podium at Misano in the 125cc class before so will be confident of picking up more Championship points on his Motobi bike.
Yuki Takahashi (Tech 3 Racing) and Gabor Talmacsi (Fimmco Speed Up) are part of a chasing pack looking for repeats of positive results at Misano. The Japanese rider finished second there in the 250cc class in 2008, whilst Talmacsi won the 125cc race.
The Moto2 field will be supplemented by two Italian wild card entries for the weekend with Mattia Pasini riding for Italtrans STR and Ferruccio Lamborghini the Forward Racing team, both on Suter chassis.
Source: motogp.com
