Indianapolis delivers third straight Elías win

Toni Elías won the Moto2 Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix with a characteristically measured ride on Sunday, taking a third consecutive GP win for the first time in his career as he tightened his grip on the inaugural title. The Gresini Racing rider now leads the overall standings by 67 points after ten rounds, having topped the podium ahead of pole man Julián Simón (Mapfre Aspar) and Scott Redding (Marc VDS Racing Team).

The race was restarted and shortened to 17 laps due to two separate crashes on the opening lap of the original contest which brought out the red flag, and Shoya Tomizawa (Technomag-CIP) and Michael Ranseder (Vector Kiefer Racing) were unfortunate in being unable to restart due to physical and mechanical issues respectively.

Championship leader Elías made a fantastic getaway as he used the gap on the front row vacated by Simone Corsi (JiR Moto2) to advance into the lead on lap one. Corsi started from the back of the grid having qualified fourth as he experienced problems with his bike due to the crash, but rocketed up the field throughout the race.

There were more falls in the early part of the race as Alex Debón, Vladimir Ivanov, Héctor Faubel, Stefan Bradl, Ricky Cardús, Yusuke Teshima, Yuki Takahashi, Roberto Rolfo, Jules Cluzel and Raffaele de Rosa all suffered bad luck. Ratthapark Wilairot also fell with nine laps to go when pushing in seventh.

Elías and Simón became involved in a duel for top spot with Redding watching from third as he kept tabs on the duo, and six laps from the end Elías made a superb overtake round the outside of Simón to assume the lead. He held that to the end, eventually crossing the line just over four-tenths of a second ahead of his compatriot.

Redding took his first Moto2 podium as he crossed in third, just under four seconds behind Simón having been strong throughout the weekend, with Andrea Iannone (Fimmco Speed Up) fourth having started from way back on the seventh row. Corsi completed the top five having made an admirable recovery from the back of the grid.

Sergio Gadea (Tenerife 40 Pons), Thomas Lüthi (Interwetten Moriwaki), Gabor Talmacsi (Fimmco Speed Up), wild card Jason DiSalvo (GP Tech) and Anthony West (MZ Racing) completed the top ten.

Iannone remains second in the standings, with Lüthi and Simón level on 108 points in third and fourth. Corsi rises to fifth thanks to his result. Absent from the race was Fonsi Nieto who underwent surgery on his fractured left ankle in Indianapolis today following his qualifying crash.