On Saturday, Redding – who won his first Moto2 race last time out in France – celebrated pole position, starting in front of Japan’s Takaaki Nakagami as Germany’s Marcel Schrotter placed himself on the front row for the first time.
Nakagami took the lead off the start line, but a decisive move from Redding saw the Gloucestershire rider slide through at Poggio Seco on the fourth lap. Nakagami, struggling under braking, immediately began to drop back and crashed out of the race at Scarperia on Lap 9 – this marked his second fall in as many Grands Prix.
As Redding began to stretch out a healthy advantage over Terol (Mapfre Aspar Team Moto2) and Zarco (Came Iodaracing Project), Tuenti HP 40’s Pol Espargaro set about the task of damage limitation. From tenth on the grid, the pre-season title favourite made significant progress in the second half of the race; aided by contact between Alex de Angelis and Xavier Simeon which put the Belgian out, Espargaro stole his final position of fourth from Mika Kallio just two laps from home.
Marc VDS’ Kallio would round out the top five, leading home Aspar’s Jordi Torres after an entertaining duel. Seventh-placed Simone Corsi (NGM Mobile Racing) was the leading Italian rider from aforementioned teammate de Angelis, as Tom Luthi and Dominique Aegerter ended quiet weekends in the final two top ten positions for Interwetten Paddock Moto2 Racing and Technomag carXpert, respectively.
Schrotter would finish 12th from third on the grid, whereas Tuenti’s Esteve Rabat – who had been the championship leader after Jerez – made a mistake and finished 13th. Six riders did not make the finish, including Indonesian duo Rafid Topan Sucipto and Doni Tata Pradita as the former fell and collected the latter at the first corner.
Redding’s success, making his the first consecutive middle class race winner from Britain since Rodney Gould 42 years ago, allows him to take a comfortable championship advantage into the Gran Premio Aperol de Catalunya on 16th June.
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