Alex Marquez eased to a comfortable Mugello win to make it back-to-back victories for the Marc VDS man, heading VR46 Racing’s Luca Marini.
Marquez lost ground to the two Dynavolt machines of Thomas Luthi and pole-man Marcel Scrotter, but soon got into his rhythm, setting the fastest race lap as he closed in on the pair.
The Spaniard was soon looking for a way past Scrotter, and soon moved through a few laps into the race as he drafted past and made the move stick into Turn 1.
He then set his sights on race leader Luthi, closing down the Swiss ace as the race approached mid-distance. Marquez looked to go around the outside as they approached Turn 1, but Luthi made it easy as he ran wide and allowed Marquez to undercut and pass him.
He then began to edge away and controlled his lead for the rest of the race to secure his second victory of the season.
Luca Marini managed to secure a runner-up result on his and VR46’s home ground, first finding away past Schrotter by diving inside at the fast Turn 6/7 complex to take third, and then performing the same move on Luthi to take second shortly after.
The Italian was unable to challenge Marquez however, and crossed the line 1.9 seconds behind.
Luthi managed to hold off a battling Lorenzo Baldassarri for third, the Pons rider recovering from 15th on the grid to finish a solid fourth, preserving his championship lead in the process.
Team-mate Augusto Fernandez rounded out the top five just behind, while Enea Bastianini continued his impressive rookie season with his best Moto2 result of sixth, demoting Jorge Navarro in the closing stages to seventh.
Schrotter eventually faded to eighth, while Sam Lowes and Fabio di Gianantonio rounded out the top ten finishers.
Marquez's win means he slashes Baldassarri's championship advanatge to just two points, while Luthi sits fourth just four points from the Italian heading to Barcelona.
