MOTOGP
2015 MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
ROUND 18 / NOVEMBER 8, 2015
RICARDO TORMO CIRCUIT / VALENCIA, SPAIN
P44
MOTO2: ONE MORE FOR THE ROAD
The first attempt lasted not one lap,
with a six-bike pile-up on the second
corner, as Hafizh Syahrin, Marcel
Schrotter, Franco Morbidelli, Xavier
Simeon, Xavi Vierge and Robin Mul-
hauser all tangled up. Morbidelli and
Syahrin did not make the restart.
For a second time, Tito Rabat led
away from pole position. This time
Thomas Luthi was his closest pursuer,
with top rookie Alex Rins and Lorenzo
Baldassari right there as well.
There would be few changes in an-
other austere race for the production-
powered class.
The first came on lap three, when
Rins took second, and he pressed the
leader all the way. But he never did get
ahead, finishing still just three tenths
adrift. It was all he needed to secure
second overall.
It was Rabat's 13th Moto2 win be-
fore moving to MotoGP next year; but
while the man who took the title this
year, Johann Zarco was only seventh,
he took over Rabat's record title of
points, with a total of 352.
Rabat had missed the past three
races recovering from a training injury
when he broke his left arm. "I arrived
here not knowing if I would be able to
ride at the top level—but I felt good on
Friday and got better every day. I'm still
not 100 percent fit, but fit enough to
ride fast," he said.
After six laps, Luthi was a second
adrift, and more than three by the end,
his hands full with the ever-pressing
Baldassarri, reinforcing his reputation
as a coming-man.
There was some moderate shuffling
behind this quartet.
Julian Simon started well and
finished the first lap fourth, but was
promptly displaced by Simone Corsi.
