VOL. 53 ISSUE 42 OCTOBER 25, 2016 P63
But Luthi is a wily veteran, and
used all his guile for the perfect
slipstream on the last run down
the straight, claiming victory by a
mere hundredth of a second.
"It's a good result for me
anyway," said a philosophical
Morbidelli, "and for my team,
after I did so much damage in
practice and qualifying."
Cortese was half a second be-
hind and delighted with his first
podium of the season. Three
seconds down, Baldassarri held
off a closing Nakagami, with Fol-
ger well out of touch in sixth.
Simone Corsi (Speed Up) was
a lone seventh. Three seconds
away, Axel Pons (AGR Kalex)
retained control of a five-strong
group, with teammate Marcel
Schrotter passing Xavi Vierge's
Tech 3 on the last lap.
A surprisingly lackluster Zarco
was at the back of it, close
behind Xavier Simeon (QMMF
Speed Up), but bereft of his usu-
al late-race speed and tactics.
Syahrin crashed out on lap
one; others to fall were Simon,
Lecuona and Kent, plus home
hero Remy Gardner, who retired
after his second tumble of the
race.
The championship chase re-
mained alive, with Luthi's second
win making him a distant but
worthy second threat. Zarco has
226 points, Luthi (204) over-
takes non-scorer Rins (201), and
Morbidelli (177) displaced Lowes
(162).
Cortese was picking up speed,
and closing on Baldassarri even
as the Italian tagged on to the
leading trio.
Soon he was ahead of Baldas-
sarri, and leaning hard on Pasini,
now in a close third place. Too
hard, and Pasini became an-
other victim of turn four.
This gave Luthi and Morbidelli
a little breathing space, and as
they started the penultimate lap
Morbidelli put a typically brave
move on the long-time leader
around the outside at the South-
ern Loop. He led as they started
the last lap and looked to have
done enough to win his first GP.
