Moto2 Austin: Maverick Vinales takes his first victory, Corsi finishes fifth

Maverick Vinales achieved his first victory in the Moto2 class in Austin. The Team Pons centaur ran an intelligent race, letting the others let off steam and then took the lead and with fast laps pulled ahead of the competition. On the podium with him his compatriot Esteve Rabat (winner in Qatar) and the Swiss Dominique Aegerter.

Fourth on arrival was Mika Kallio, who preceded our Simone Corsi, fifth with the Forward KLX. The race had many twists and turns, including a fall at the first corner involving many riders, including our Mattia Pasini, who got back on the bike and finished twelfth. Many falls then, including those of Simon (hit by Zarco), Simeon and our Lorenzo Baldassarri, both Team Gresini riders. The San Marino Alex de Angelis instead finished in eighth position.

Now in the world championship Rabat leads with 45 points against Vinales' 38, Kallio's 33, Luthi's 26 and our Simone Corsi's 22.

Race report

The Moto2 class riders are ready to compete in the Red Bull Grand Prix of the Americas, the second stage of the 2014 world championship, which takes place at COTA in Austin. Pole position for “Tito” Esteve Rabat, rider of the Marc VDS Racing Team. The Spanish driver (winner in Qatar) will have alongside him the Frenchman Johann Zarco, riding the Suter Caterham and the Swiss Dominique Aegerter, riding the Suter of the Technomag carXpert Team.

Second row for the Belgian Xavier Simeon (Suter of Team Gresini) and for the Spaniards Julian Simon (Kalex Team Italtrans) and Maverick Vinales (Kalex Team Pons). Third row for the German Jonas Folger (Kalex AGR Team), for our Simone Corsi, riding the Forward KLX and for the Japanese Takaaki Nakagami, riding the Kalex of the Idemitsu Honda Team Asia.

Alex de Angelis from San Marino will start from the fifth row, sharing the track with Thomas Luthi (who precedes him by one position) and the German Sandro Cortese. Seventh row for Mattia Pasini and Franco Morbidelli, the former riding the Forward KLX, the latter the Kalex of Team Italtrans. Lorenzo Baldassarri with the twenty-fourth time is the last of our team. A few drops of rain fall, red flag, departure temporarily postponed. Now it has stopped raining, the Dry Race sign is still up. All ready, nineteen laps to go for 104.747 km. The traffic lights go out, Rabat is the fastest at the start, but at the first corner Simon takes the lead. Big pile-up, Pasini, Lowes, Herrin, Salom and Terol fall.

Simon is therefore in the lead ahead of Aegerter, Rabat, Simeon, Nakagami and Zarco. Aegerter passes, now the Swiss from Team Technomag carXpert is first. They keep changing positions. The first lap ends with Aegerter ahead of Simeon, Simon, Nakagami, Rabat, Zarco and Kallio. The Roman Simone Corsi is ninth, while the San Marino Alex de Angelis is eleventh.

Double fall! Zarco in a furious attack tries to pass Simon. The maneuver fails and both end up on the ground, with the Frenchman from Caterham clearly responsible. The positions change again, now Simeon is in command ahead of Aegerter, Vinales and Kallio. Behind, Rabat is ahead of Corsi, the two trying to mend the "rip" that occurred in the first laps. Behind Corsi we find West, Cardus, Nakagami and Alex de Angelis. Twentieth and twenty-first positions for Franco Morbidelli and Mattia Pasini, who got back on his Kalex after the crash on the first corner.

Having reached the halfway point of the race we still find four drivers fighting for victory, in order the Belgian Xavier Simeon (Suter Gresini Racing), Dominique Aegerter (Suter Technomag carXpert), Maverick Vinales (Kalex Team Pons) and Mika Kallio (Marc VDS Racing Team ). Great comeback for Esteve Rabat, who with fast laps gets back under him and now threatens his team-mate. Corsi loses from Rabat, but gains on the chasing group, led by the Australian Anthony West, riding the Speed ​​Up.

Simeon's mistake!! The Team Gresini rider went wide in a braking section and now it will be very hard to recover. Meanwhile, a fratricidal fight at Marc Vds Racing Team, with Kallio and Rabat at loggerheads. Aegerter is now in command, but a few corners later he has to surrender to Maverick Vinales, the 2013 Moto3 champion, who made a splendid overtaking. Meanwhile Simeon is trying to make a comeback, everything is still possible, while Rabat, after getting rid of Kallio, is fighting with Aegerter.

Last km of the race, Vinales looks for the winning move. The #25 has an advantage of more than two seconds, double lap in record times, both in 2'10"1, fantastic time. In the meantime, Simeon has moved back up to fourth place and now sees a podium finish, which would still be an excellent result. Ours are Corsi sixth, Alex de Angelis ninth, Mattia Pasini fourteenth and Franco Morbidelli seventeenth.

The last lap begins, Xavier Simeon falls! Too bad for the Team Gresini rider, author of an excellent race. Maverick Vinales, however, resists and goes on to win his first race in the Moto2 class. On the podium with him Esteve Rabat, winner in Qatar and Dominique Aegerter. Corsi finishes fifth, taking advantage of Simeon's fall.