Moto2

JOHANN ZARCO [AJO KALEX] IS quickly making a mockery of early-season claims that the 2016 intermediate class struggle would be the tightest of them all. Never one to become flustered, the Frenchman expertly recovered from a poor start to reel in early leaders Franco Morbidelli [Marc VDS Kalex], Marcel Schrotter [AGR Kalex] and Thomas Luthi.

By lap 17 he assumed total control over Morbidelli and would not relent until the flag, maintaining laps in the mid-one m 29 s until the final circulation. A slow starting Alex Rins [Pons Kalex] took advantage of Morbidelli’s late move on Luthi [Interwetten Kalex] to take third, just behind the Italian.

With Sam Lowes [Gresini Kalex] crashing out twice, this now appears to be a two-way title fight between Zarco and Rins. “I felt better as the race went on and other riders suffered a little more,” said the Frenchman, whose championship lead now stands at 24 points. “When I passed Morbidelli, I knew I could break away.”