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Valencia Moto2: Zarco finishes title-winning year with victory

Johann Zarco took victory in the final Moto2 race of the season at Valencia, coming out on top of a fierce early battle with Franco Morbidelli before pulling away in the latter stages.

Johann Zarco, Ajo Motorsport

Johann Zarco, Ajo Motorsport

Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Starting from pole, Ajo rider Zarco led the opening laps, as he and Morbidelli, Thomas Luthi and Alex Rins formed an early breakaway group at the head of the pack.

The four were closely bunched in the early stages, with Zarco and Morbidelli swapping the lead multiple times in an increasingly fraught fight as Luthi and Rins engaged in their own battle for third behind.

But Marc VDS rider Morbidelli, seeking a maiden grand prix win, couldn't match the pace of two-time champion Zarco as the race entered its second half.

Visibly struggling with tyre wear, Morbidelli had dropped back to over a second behind with five laps to go, and came under increasing threat from Luthi.

That left Zarco in the clear to cruise to a seventh win of the year by a margin of 3.281s in his final Moto2 race before he steps up to the MotoGP class in 2017 on a Tech 3 Yamaha.

"I knew Tom and Franco were even stronger than me on pace, so I had to attack at the beginning and not let them get the good speed," said Zarco.

"I was good enough on the bike to attack and overtake, and I knew that after 15 laps I would come better. And this is exactly what happened, so the strategy worked really well."

Luthi made his move on Morbidelli at the start of the final lap to grab second, giving the Swiss veteran the runner-up spot in the championship.

With third, Morbidelli took his sixth podium in seven races, but fell a point short of Rins - who dropped to fifth behind Sam Lowes at the final corner - in the fight for third overall.

On his final grand prix start, Julian Simon had been running in sixth in the mid-part of the race, but a late crash for the Spaniard promoted Takaaki Nakagami to sixth at the finish.

Behind, Mattia Pasini won the fight for seventh ahead of Jonas Folger, Danny Kent and Marcel Schrotter.

Morbidelli's Marc VDS teammate Alex Marquez was another retirement, pulling out of the race with arm pump.

Race results:

Cla#RiderBikeTime/Gap
1 5  Johann Zarco  Kalex 43'17.626
2 12  Thomas Luthi  Kalex 3.281
3 21  Franco Morbidelli  Kalex 4.981
4 22  Sam Lowes  Kalex 5.636
5 40  Alex Rins  Kalex 5.850
6 30  Takaaki Nakagami  Kalex 11.605
7 54  Mattia Pasini  Kalex 16.391
8 94  Jonas Folger  Kalex 16.964
9 52  Danny Kent  Kalex 17.451
10 23  Marcel Schrötter  Kalex 17.668
11 24  Simone Corsi  Speed Up 20.455
12 97  Xavi Vierge  Tech 3 20.911
13 44  Miguel Oliveira  Kalex 21.650
14 7  Lorenzo Baldassarri  Kalex 22.581
15 55  Hafizh Syahrin  Kalex 23.734
16 19  Xavier Simeon  Speed Up 26.328
17 2  Jesko Raffin  Kalex 29.421
18 87  Remy Gardner  Kalex 29.667
19 57  Edgar Pons  Kalex 29.749
20 14  Ratthapark Wilairot  Kalex 39.289
21 70  Robin Mulhauser  Kalex 43.105
22 10  Luca Marini  Kalex 43.532
23 60  Julian Simon  Speed Up 51.271
24 27  Iker Lecuona  Kalex 56.617
Ret 73  Alex Marquez  Kalex 10 laps
Ret 32  Isaac Viñales  Tech 3 17 laps
Ret 42  Federico Fuligni  Kalex 22 laps
Ret 11  Sandro Cortese  Kalex 23 laps
Ret 49  Axel Pons  Kalex 23 laps
Ret 16  Hugo Clere  TransFIORmers 23 laps

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