VOL. 53 ISSUE 41 OCTOBER 18, 2016 P95
Up) inches behind, and Marcel
Schrotter (AGR Kalex) off the
back of it by the end.
Xavier Simeon (QMMF Speed
Up) was a safe 10th after passing
Xavi Vierge (Tech 3) six laps from
the end.
Baldassari and Alex Marquez
crashed out, and Kent retired
with a broken shifter.
Misfortune to his rivals re-
versed Zarco's dwindling title
fortunes and put Luthi into a posi-
tion of faint hope. Zarco has 222
points, Rins 201, then Luthi 179,
Lowes 162 and Morbidelli 157.
lap in Malaysia last year, but this
time I was ready."
Nakagami and Morbidelli
had a battle royal on the last lap
for third, changing places four
times, but it went to the Italian
over the line.
Pons had crashed after losing
fifth to Cortese on lap 11, leaving
the German alone.
A four-strong battle behind
raged until close to the end,
with Simone Corsi (Speed Up)
snatching sixth from Mattia Pa-
sini (Forward Kalex) on the last
lap; Julian Simon (QMMF Speed
even started the last lap less
than half-a-second adrift. But
Luthi had got the message and
had matters under control. He
took his third win of the season
by less than four-tenths, but it
was enough.
"I really expected I could
catch him, and that he would
get tired, because I am always
strong when the tires are used,"
said the Frenchman. "But he
won."
And Luthi said, "Even before
the race I remembered how
Zarco took my lead on the last
