Moto2: Oliveira wins head-to-head dual with Marini, takes title lead

Miguel Oliveira took another win in the Moto2 class as he came out on top in a head-to-head dogfight with Luca Marini at Brno. The Red Bull KTM rider gave himself a chance of the race win with a good qualifying position and ran near the front of the race for the entire distance. Having fought off Pecco Bagnaia and Lorenzo Baldassarri, there was only Luca Marini in his way and the two riders took it down to the very last corners.

The Portuguese rider never dropped out of the top four in the race and was running comfortably in 2nd place on lap five, having climbed his way up. It wouldn’t be until lap 16 however that he took the lead from a fast-charging Lorenzo Baldassarri, who showed his tremendous race pace by coming through from 10th on the grid.

With Baldassarri’s tyre going off and then starting to battle with Bagnaia, it was down to young pretender Luca Marini to take the Italian challenge to Oliveira – who moves up to MotoGP next year. Numerous lead changes on the final lap meant confirmed that the race was not over until the chequered flag. Oliveira made his move at turn 10 and held Marini off until turn 13, when Marini pushed his way through but not forcefully enough, as Oliveira swept back across him at turn 14 and therefore got a good run to the line to hold off the Italian.

It was a very fun race. From the start I understood that the pace wasn’t going to be very fast, so the key was to overtake and not lose much time. On the final laps I knew I had to be further up at the front, then when Baldassarri passed us all I thought I maybe had something extra up my sleeve,” said Oliveira, who’s taken his second victory of the season.

“I suffered a bit of chatter and sliding, but I wanted to be up at the front. I tried to ride smoothly and without making mistakes, and on the last lap I knew that Marini was going for the win, but finally I managed the last laps well and I was able to finish first. I’m very happy; it is an important victory for us and we hope to continue like this. Our goal now is to continue enjoying ourselves and working well. We know there are things to improve with the bike, and we are working on it tirelessly to try to make the dream come true at the end of the year.”

Oliveira now takes the lead in the championship from Marini’s teammate Francesco Bagnaia, with just a two point gap between them heading to the Red Bull Ring in Austria in just a few days time.