Brad Binder secured his second Moto2 victory of the season with a controlled ride at Aragon to beat Speed Up’s Jorge Navarro to the line, while Augusto Fernandez crashed out in the early stages of the 21 lap encounter.
Binder made a strong start to vault into the lead from third on the grid, and immediately tried to build a gap as his rivals squabbled behind him.
Fernandez in the meantime slid out of fifth place at Turn 9 mid-way round the opening lap, and although able to re-join lost too much time and finished way out of the points in 22nd.
Alex Marquez was hungry to win at his true home race for the first time in his career though, and after several laps was able to dispatch second-placed Luca Marini into Turn 1 and chase down Binder for the lead.
This was easier said than done though, and after he failed to close down the South African sufficiently was actually re-passed by Marini a few laps later, before re-taking the position once again just after mid-distance.
Marquez was ultimately unable to seriously threaten the KTM out in front, with that job going to the charging Navarro.
The Spaniard had lost time after trying to pass Marini around the outside of Turn 12, but quickly closed back in on the VR46 man and finally moved into the podium positions with just a handful of laps remaining.
He closed down Marquez and snatched second with only a few laps remaining, immediately turning his attention to Binder.
Despite shaving over half-a-second from Binders advantage on the penultimate tour, the Speed Up rider was unable to make any further impression on the leader across the final lap, crossing the line just six-tenths behind.
Marquez settled for third and an increased 38 point championship lead over now second-placed Navarro, with Fernandez slipping to third overall 42 behind the Marc VDS man.
Marini meanwhile was forced to fend off the charging Sam Lowes for fourth in the closing stages, which in the end he managed despite the Brit closing to less than a second behind over the final couple of tours.
Thomas Luthi was unable to sustain the speed of the front runners and dropped back from the leading group after being passed by Lowes, eventually taking the chequered flag a distant sixth.
Iker Lecuona came out on top of a close battle for best of the rest in seventh narrowly ahead of Lorenzo Baldassarri, while Xavi Vierge brought the second Marc VDS Kalex home ninth ahead of Nicolo Bulega who rounded out the top ten.
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