Franco Morbidelli won the 2017 Moto2 race at the Termos de Rio Honda in Argentina, but his Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS teammate sure did make him work for it. The two started from the front row, behind Miguel Oliveira who recently returned to his own team, Red Bull KTM Ajo, who have decided to expand to the Moto2 class; Oliveira got them their first pole position on just their second race in the class.

Morbidelli takes the lead early on

When the race got underway it was Morbidelli who led into the first corner and this is where he remained in the lead fiercely defending it until Marquez made an attack in the later stages. Behind them, Oliveira initially lost another position to Thomas Luthi (CarXpert Interwetten) but Oliveira soon made his way past leaving Luthi to fend off Mattia Pasini (Italtrans Racing Team).

All the action appeared to be going on behind them as riders battled it out for sixth position. After initially pulling away, Marquez began catching Moribdelli. By lap 20 of the 23 lap race, Marquez was closer than ever. It was just a matter of time as Marquez appeared hungry for his first win, and as they headed into turn one of lap 21, Marquez made his move.

The Spaniard took the lead but Morbidelli retaliated a few corners later. The Italian ran wide but fortunately for him, Marquez followed him so he did not lose the lead once again. Morbidelli then responded to the attack from Marquez and began to pull away hoping to cross the line first. As the two tripped each other up, Oliveira was able to benefit greatly and caught the duo right up.

Disaster for Marquez who crashes out on the last lap

Then disaster struck for Marquez as on the final lap of the race, the rear came round on his Kalex, and threw him off the bike so he almost high-sided. He hit the front of the bike before being slammed down on the gravel several times as he tumbled into the gravel with his bike; he was seen holding his hand after the incident but was able to recover his bike and cross the line to finish the race down in 21st.

The crash, although devastating for Marquez, benefited others who would not have wanted to gain in that way as no one would. Morbidelli won the 2017 Argentinian Moto2 race, finishing 1.683 seconds ahead of Oliveira in second, and Luthi was 10.551 seconds behind Morbidelli out on track on his own in third.

Morbidelli described his second ever MotoGP win

The 22 year old described his second consecutive Moto2 win, and his second win ever as an “amazing feeling” mentioning that “two victories in a row” was “just incredible” and that he hopes he can “keep this momentum going”. He explained how he was “pushing really hard from the start” and he saw “very quickly” that his teammate Marquez was “going very fast very close behind” and so he was “ready for the fight”.

Discussing the events in the closing stages he confirmed that “with a lap to go [he] had + 0.3 seconds and pushed even harder for the win”. In fact he revealed he “did not know Alex had crashed until[he] took the chequered flag”. He said, “It’s a pity his race ended like this”.

Oliveira meets his target finishing second from pole

Oliveira had a target of a top five finish at the Termos de Rio Hondo. After his historical pole position in the race, the podium was much deserved as after he found his rhythm, he looked strong, comfortable and confident on the KTM chassis. This was great news for the new team, as his Moto2 rookie teammate, 2016 Moto3 champion Brad Binder, revealed prior to the race that the injury he had sustained previously was getting worse. He had broken his wrist and had a plate inserted which had come lose; however doped up on strong painkillers he was able to finish a fantastic seventh.

Oliveira said, “Getting this second position today in Argentina is fantastic.” He admitted that the “start of the race was not easy” as he revealed he “had a few scares when [he] was in the leading group”. He then found that “two riders escaped ahead” of him and that he was “not able to keep up”. So, ”little by little [he] tried to contact them” as he felt that he “had the better pace”, whilst doing this he was unsure that if his pace was “good enough to pass them” so he “tried and never gave up”.

Then he spoke of how on the last lap he “saw that Marquez had crashed” which he described as “a great shame”. But he went on and “made the most of it to climb one step further up on the podium”. He was left overall feeling “very happy with the result” as he felt it was “a reward for the good work [they] have done over the course of these past few months”.

Luthi felt he deserved fourth place in Argentina

Luthi was honest when saying that he “deserved the fourth position” in Argentina, however sharing his awareness of “the rules of the game” as does Marquez, and so he was “not going to be upset about this podium”. He spoke of how he “understood very quickly” that he was “not able to follow the pace of the three riders in front”. He explained how he “closed up on Oliveira for a moment but lost contact saving a moment in the last corner” where he revealed he “only just avoided a little highside”.

Still, he described how “stepping up on the podium after a difficult race” to him was a “good result”. He described how he found himself “alone on track fairly quickly” where he was “able to observe more of less [his] main opponents and learned quite a few things”.

Overall he felt that they have “made a good start to this championship” however he feels that they “still need to work more to find half a second that [they] were missing from the first practice compared to Morbidelli”.

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About the author
Danielle Overend
Passionate about everything motorcycles and Moto GP!