ROAD RACE
FIM MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
ROUND 17 / OCTOBER 30, 2016
SEPANG INTERNATIONAL CIRCUIT / SEPANG, SELANGOR, MALAYSIA
P68
Moto2
Zarco needed to win in Malaysia
if his closest rivals Luthi and Rins
were to follow him home. He
didn't want that, however, and
laid down a marker in a damp,
drying qualifier, claiming pole on
well-worn wet tires by a massive
two seconds.
The same conditions came in
the race. And the same result.
While Luthi was stuck in a
fight and finished sixth, and Rins
was bafflingly mired at the far
end of the points, the French Ajo
Kalex rider, Zarco, returned to
his finest form, with a perfectly
judged race. He followed early
leader Franco Morbidelli (EG-VS
Kalex) until there were six laps
left, then passed him cleanly
and deployed his near-legendary
ability on end-of-life tires to pull
steadily clear. He won the race
by better than three seconds,
and became the first back-to-
back (indeed, the first double)
Moto2 Champion with one race
to spare.
With rain falling for the early
laps, the race was somewhat
processional.
Second qualifier Morbidelli
took off in the lead, with Zarco
quickly maneuvering himself into
second past Jonas Folger (Dy-
navolt Kalex), and the trio soon
pulled clear of Xavier Simeon
(QMMF Speed Up).
Sam Lowes (Federal Oils
Kalex) and third front-row starter
Axel Pons (AGR Kalex) were
soon down and out in difficult
conditions, as well as Italtrans
Kalex's Mattia Pasini.
The front three held station,
each surviving the occasional
slither, and for a while it looked
as though Folger would drop off
the back.
After half distance he closed
up again, and now it was Zarco's
time to stamp his authority. He
cut firmly into the lead at turn
four, and two laps later was al-
ready 1.7 seconds clear, and still
stretching.
For him, the rest was a formal-
ity, en route to a doubled-up
trademark celebration, as his
