2012 Valencia Moto2 Race Result: Scintillating Charge Brings Awe-Inspiring Victory

Results and summary of an impressive Moto2 race at Valencia:

Marc Marquez has said farewell to the Moto2 class with a perfect display of riding in difficult conditions, charging all the way through the field from the back of the grid to take victory in the final race of the season. He leaves the class with 9 victories this season, having dominated almost throughout.

Marquez had a lot of work to do before he could take the win, however. Starting from the back of the grid after a penalty for an incident with Simone Corsi on Friday, the Spaniard had worked his way through half the field by the time he got up to the second corner. There, however, he found himself on the outside of a large group which pushed him wide, losing a great deal of the gains he had made. But by the end of the lap he had already made it up to 11th, but the front group was starting to break away.

It was Pol Espargaro who had led from the line, with Nico Terol flying by into the lead at the first corner. Terol, Espargaro and Thomas Luthi made a break at the front, but in the wet, Espargaro could not display the dominance he had when it was dry. Espargaro started going backwards, while Julian Simon on the Avintia Suter was on a charge going forwards.

While Terol started to pull a gap from the rest, Julian Simon started to hunt his fellow Spaniard down. The chase did not last long: by lap 8 Simon was with Terol, by lap 9 he was past, and starting to extend his lead.

Behind the two Spaniards, a group fought to fight over the final spot on the podium, led by Tech 3's Xavier Simeon, and including Dominique Aegerter, Gino Rea, Johann Zarco and Marc Marquez, the Catalunya Caixa rider now up to speed. Simeon and Zarco crashed out, and Marquez tried to make his way past Rea, but the young Englishman would not give up his spot easily. Attacks and counter attacks followed, but eventually Marquez would not be denied, working his way past Rea before quickly disposing of Aegerter. Rea tried to follow, but lost the front in the wet, crashing out of the race.

Now clear, Marquez went on to demonstrate just why he is considered such a special prospect by many. Simon led, 2 seconds ahead of Terol, who was in turn some 8 seconds in front of Marquez. But Marquez was fast, over a second a lap quicker than anyone on the track, and he had the slowing Terol in his sights. Marquez took 4 laps to catch the Mapfre Aspar man, dispatching him with a hard move at a fast part of the track. He then put his sights on Simon, catching him with 2 laps to go, and passing him with relative ease over the straight. Simon tried to resist, staying with Marquez for a while, but he could do nothing to prevent Marquez from winning. Simon settled for 2nd, while Terol held on to 3rd.

Results: