Jesko Raffin made a wise decision in the seventeenth lap of the Moto2 race of the San Marino GP. The Swiss put his NTS in the pit box and retired from the race. Bo Bendsneyder did make it to the finish. The Dutchman crossed the line on the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli in nineteenth. It was taken into account that Raffin would not make it to the finish, due to the fatigue complaints that continue to haunt the Swiss. Nevertheless, Raffin made a brave start. After starting from 27th place, he came through in 25th after the first lap, shortly behind his teammate Bendsneyder, who was unable to win any places in the opening lap. That came a little later, after a battle with Izdihar, among others. Slowly but surely, Bendsneyder moved up in the rankings to finally finish nineteenth at 35,844 from winner Luca Marini. Bendsneyder did not want to respond afterwards.
It was easy to see that Raffin was struggling. He lost more ground per lap. Half a lap behind the leading group, he decided to throw the towel.
Race results:
Pos | Rider | Team | Time / Gap |
1 | Luca MARINI | SKY Racing Team VR46 | 40’41.774 |
2 | Marco BEZZECCHI | SKY Racing Team VR46 | +0.799 |
3 | Enea BASTIANINI | Italtrans Racing Team | +0.897 |
4 | Xavi VIERGE | Petronas Sprinta Racing | 2.177 |
5 | Augusto FERNANDEZ | EG 0,0 Marc VDS | 8.307 |
6 | Thomas LUTHI | Liqui Moly Intact GP | 9.046 |
7 | Fabio DI GIANNANTONIO | EGO Speed Up | 9.971 |
8 | Sam LOWES | EG 0,0 Marc VDS | 16.485 |
9 | Aron CANET | Oceanica Aspar Team Moto2 | 17.036 |
10 | Joe ROBERTS | Tennor American Racing | 17.209 |
11 | Lorenzo BALDASSARRI | Flexbox HP 40 | 17.741 |
12 | Marcos RAMIREZ | Tennor American Racing | 19.152 |
13 | Lorenzo DALLA PORTA | Italtrans Racing Team | 21.946 |
14 | Simone CORSI | MV Agusta Forward Racing | 22.005 |
15 | Nicolò BULEGA | Federal Oil Gresini Moto2 | 24.404 |
16 | Jake DIXON | Petronas Sprinta Racing | 24.663 |
17 | Stefano MANZI | MV Agusta Forward Racing | 27.442 |
18 | Somkiat CHANTRA | IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia | 32.671 |
19 | Bo BENDSNEYDER | NTS RW Racing GP | 35.844 |
20 | Kasma DANIEL | Onexox TKKR SAG Team | 46.463 |
Not Classified | |||
Tetsuta NAGASHIMA | Red Bull KTM Ajo | 1 Lap | |
Hafizh SYAHRIN | Oceanica Aspar Team Moto2 | 4 Laps | |
Marcel SCHROTTER | Liqui Moly Intact GP | 7 Laps | |
Andi Farid IZDIHAR | IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia | 9 Laps | |
Jesko RAFFIN | NTS RW Racing GP | 10 Laps | |
Edgar PONS | Federal Oil Gresini Moto2 | 13 Laps | |
Jorge NAVARRO | EGO Speed Up | 15 Laps | |
Hector GARZO | Flexbox HP 40 | 19 Laps |
Source: motogp.com, rwracinggp.com