Morbidelli Back In Hunt For MotoGP World Title

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 26 (Bernama) -- Petronas Yamaha Sepang Racing Team (SRT) rider Franco Morbidelli revived his Moto Grand Prix (MotoGP) world title hopes after clinching his second victory of the season in the Teruel GP at the Aragon Circuit in Spain on Sunday. The 25-year-old Italian, who started in the front row of the starting grid, took charge of the race to romp home in 41 minutes and 47.652 seconds after pole-sitter, Japan's Takaaki Nakagami of LCR Honda Idemitsu, was involved in a crash in the opening lap. Team Suzuki Ecstar's Spanish riders Alex Rins (2.205 seconds behind) and Joan Mir (5.376 seconds behind) came in second and third respectively. Morbidelli’s teammate, Fabio Quartararo, came in eighth in 42:20.372. “I felt great out there, the feel of the bike was amazing. We gambled a little bit with the tyre choice as we knew we had to do something (after poor results at the last week’s Aragon GP),” said Morbidelli, whose first MotoGP win of the season came in San Marino in September. Sunday’s victory enabled Morbidelli to jump two rungs to fourth place in the MotoGP World Championship standings with 112 points. Mir and Quartararo stayed in the top two spots with 137 points and 123 points respectively, followed by Monster Energy Yamaha's Spaniard Maverick Vinales in third with 118 points. In Moto2, Petronas Sprinta Racing duo Jake Dixon (39:44.500) of Great Britain and Spaniard Xavi Vierge (39:53.851) came in seventh and 12th respectively. Briton Sam Lowes of EG 0.0 Marc VDS claimed his third straight victory this season after clocking 39:27.645, followed by Italians Fabio Di Giannantonio of Lightech Speed Up and Enea Bastianini of Italtrans Racing Team, who were behind by 8.425 seconds and 10.871 seconds respectively. Malaysian Hafizh Syahrin Abdullah of Aspar Team Moto2 came in 13th out of 23 riders in 39:53.962, while another Malaysian, Kasma Daniel Kasmayudin of OneXoX TKKR SAG Team, failed to finish the race after being involved in a crash in the opening lap with Japan's Tetsuta Nagashima of Red Bull KTM Ajo and Swiss Thomas Luthi of Liqui Moly Intact GP. Meanwhile, Petronas Sprinta Racing Moto3 riders John McPhee (37:44.974) of Scotland and Malaysian Khairul Idham Pawi (38:17.401) finished sixth and 27th respectively. Spaniard Jaume Masia of Leopard Racing secured back-to-back victory at the same circuit after last weekend’s Aragon GP, coming in at 37:44.602. Japan's Ayumu Sasaki of Red Bull KTM Tech 3 and Kaito Toba of Red Bull KTM Ajo were second and third, adrift by 0.051 seconds and 0.152 seconds, respectively. The next two MotoGP World Championship races will be the European GP (Nov 6-8) and the Valencia GP (Nov 13-15). -- BERNAMA