Oliveira hands KTM maiden Moto2 victory

KTM has claimed its first Moto2 race win after Miguel Oliveira and Brad Binder handed the team a 1-2 finish in the Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island.

Oliveira controlled the race after pulling an early gap over the chasing pack, going on to check out at the front to win despite late rain and a charging Takaaki Nakagami threatening his advantage.

From the outside of the front row, Oliveira and team-mate Binder moved to the head of the race to make for an early KTM 1-2.

Their cause was helped on Lap 2 as Marcel Schrotter and Mattia Pasini crashed out at the Southern Loop, allowing the first three to skip clear.

Along with the two KTMs, championship leader Morbidelli was also clear, while title contender Tomas Luthi struggled for pace and fell from fourth in the opening laps to seventh by mid-distance.

Going the other way was Takaaki Nakagami, who settled into a strong pace after a slow start to climb his way to fourth.

He then latched onto Morbidelli, who had dropped back after a moment at the start of Lap 15 saw the Italian lucky to stay upright having brushed his front wheel against Binder’s rear as they tipped into Turn 1.

Binder too began struggling for pace, a train of bikes forming behind the second-placed KTM, who eventually ceded the spot to Morbidelli at Turn 1 with seven laps remaining.

He immediately dropped another to Nakagami as Xavier Vierge and Jesko Raffin queued up for their chance to pass the former second place sitter.

A lap later and Nakagami was third, demoting Morbidelli in the same fashion as Binder had lost second place a lap earlier.

Further back, Luthi was engaged in a six-way battle for seventh spot, eventually settling for tenth place at the flag as his hopes of the championship slipped ever further away.

Rain in the closing laps saw Nakagami close on the race leader, who’d thrown an arm in the attempt to have race control red flag proceedings.

Nakagami’s pace was too hot for the conditions, crashing out at Lukey Heights with two laps remaining, promoting the squabbling Binder and Morbidelli.

As the rain intensified in the final lap, Morbidelli opted to preserve his championship advantage and dropped off the back of Binder, who trailed Oliveira across the line as KTM claimed its first Moto2 win.

The Moto2 championship heads to Sepang next weekend for the penultimate round of the 2017 championship.

Result: Australian Moto2 Grand Prix

Position	Rider	Team	Bike	Time/Gap
1	Miguel OLIVEIRA	Red Bull KTM Ajo	KTM	39m25.920s
2	Brad BINDER	Red Bull KTM Ajo	KTM	2.974s
3	Franco MORBIDELLI	EG 0,0 Marc VDS	Kalex	3.846s
4	Jesko RAFFIN	Garage Plus Interwetten	Kalex	7.348s
5	Xavi VIERGE	Tech 3 Racing	Tech 3	7.403s
6	Alex MARQUEZ	EG 0,0 Marc VDS	Kalex	12.125s
7	Simone CORSI	Speed Up Racing	Speed Up	12.217s
8	Dominique AEGERTER	Kiefer Racing	Suter	12.244s
9	Sandro CORTESE	Dynavolt Intact GP	Suter	12.475s
10	Thomas LUTHI	CarXpert Interwetten	Kalex	12.605s
11	Axel PONS	RW Racing GP	Kalex	12.971s
12	Francesco BAGNAIA	SKY Racing Team VR46	Kalex	20.887s
13	Stefano MANZI	SKY Racing Team VR46	Kalex	28.821s
14	Lorenzo BALDASSARRI	Forward Racing Team	Kalex	31.214s
15	Remy GARDNER	Tech 3 Racing	Tech 3	34.678s
16	Hafizh SYAHRIN	Petronas Raceline Malaysia	Kalex	34.911s
17	Augusto FERNANDEZ	Speed Up Racing	Speed Up	35.694s
18	Tetsuta NAGASHIMA	Teluru SAG Team	Kalex	56.487s
19	Isaac VIÑALES	BE-A-VIP SAG Team	Kalex	56.528s
20	Iker LECUONA	Garage Plus Interwetten	Kalex	56.550s
21	Khairul Idham PAWI	IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia	Kalex	57.548s
22	Tarran MACKENZIE	Kiefer Racing	Suter	1m01.191s
23	Luca MARINI	Forward Racing Team	Kalex	1m39.824s
	Takaaki NAKAGAMI	IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia	Kalex	2 Laps
	Edgar PONS	Pons HP40	Kalex	2 Laps
	Fabio QUARTARARO	Pons HP40	Kalex	20 Laps
	Andrea LOCATELLI	Italtrans Racing Team	Kalex	23 Laps
	Jorge NAVARRO	Federal Oil Gresini Moto2	Kalex	23 Laps
	Marcel SCHROTTER	Dynavolt Intact GP	Suter	24 Laps
	Mattia PASINI	Italtrans Racing Team	Kalex	24 Laps

Points Standings: Moto2 World Championship

Position	Rider	Bike	Points
1	Franco MORBIDELLI	Kalex	272
2	Thomas LUTHI	Kalex	243
3	Miguel OLIVEIRA	KTM	191
4	Alex MARQUEZ	Kalex	190
5	Francesco BAGNAIA	Kalex	150
6	Mattia PASINI	Kalex	135
7	Takaaki NAKAGAMI	Kalex	128
8	Simone CORSI	Speed Up	105
9	Xavi VIERGE	Tech 3	90
10	Brad BINDER	KTM	89
11	Hafizh SYAHRIN	Kalex	86
12	Dominique AEGERTER	Suter	82
13	Jorge NAVARRO	Kalex	60
14	Luca MARINI	Kalex	59
15	Lorenzo BALDASSARRI	Kalex	50
16	Fabio QUARTARARO	Kalex	47
17	Marcel SCHROTTER	Suter	47
18	Sandro CORTESE	Suter	43
19	Jesko RAFFIN	Kalex	25
20	Remy GARDNER	Tech 3	23
21	Axel PONS	Kalex	22
22	Xavier SIMEON	Kalex	16
23	Yonny HERNANDEZ	Kalex	16
24	Stefano MANZI	Kalex	14
25	Khairul Idham PAWI	Kalex	10
26	Tetsuta NAGASHIMA	Kalex	8
27	Isaac VIÑALES	Kalex	7
28	Ricard CARDUS	KTM	7
29	Joe ROBERTS	Kalex	6
30	Alex DE ANGELIS	Suter	5
31	Andrea LOCATELLI	Kalex	5
32	Danny KENT	Suter	3
33	Edgar PONS	Kalex	2
34	Ikuhiro ENOKIDO	Kalex	2
35	Tarran MACKENZIE	Suter	1
36	Federico FULIGNI	Kalex	1