Austin Moto2: Luthi takes first win since MotoGP exit

Baldassarri was an innocent victim of Jorge Martin's bike having a major moment at the fast Turn 10 left-hander, the Italian unable to avoid the KTM.

The Italian still leads the championship, but his lead is down to three points ahead of Schrotter.

It was the second crash of the opening lap as Fabio Di Giannantonio and local rider Joe Roberts tangled heading into the first turn, the duo also collecting Xavi Vierge.

At the front, polesitter Schrotter had a lightning start but went too wide at Turn 1, allowing Alex Marquez and Luthi through.

Luthi challenged Marquez from the get-go but the Spaniard showcased some great defensive riding to hold on to the lead for seven laps.

Then Luthi finally found a way past at the end of the back straight, and as Schrotter put pressure on Marquez as well, Luthi was able to pull away.

The Swiss rider built a lead of 2.5s in just two laps, a gap which he maintained to the finish.

Schrotter completed an Intact GP 1-2 as he also passed the Marc VDS bike of Marquez at Turn 20 two laps after Luthi.

Marquez continued to drop back and struggled with stopping at hard braking zones in the late stages, going wide on several occasions.

He kept third place until only three laps were remaining, when he ran wide on two occasions and lost three positions.

Speed Up's Jorge Navarro took third as a result, celebrating his maiden podium in the category.

Mattia Pasini, stepping in for the injured Augusto Fernandez at Pons, took an impressive fourth while Marquez was able to salvage fifth ahead of Luca Marini (Sky Racing VR46).

Gresini Racing's Sam Lowes finished seventh followed by Italian trio Simone Corsi (Tasca), Enea Bastianini (Italtrans) and Andrea Locatelli (Italtrans).

Reigning Moto3 champion Martin was the top KTM runner in 15th as teammate Brad Binder retired with a clutch problem and Marco Bezzecchi crashed.

Iker Lecuona had a highside, while Xavi Cardelus, whose Angel Nieto teammate Jake Dixon did not race due to concussion, retired in the pits.

Race results:

Pos.	Rider	Bike	Gap
1	Thomas Luthi	Kalex	39'11.508
2	Marcel Schrotter	Kalex	2.532
3	Jorge Navarro	Speed Up	3.836
4	Mattia Pasini	Kalex	4.757
5	Alex Marquez	Kalex	7.741
6	Luca Marini	Kalex	8.031
7	Sam Lowes	Kalex	8.282
8	Simone Corsi	Kalex	8.953
9	Enea Bastianini	Kalex	10.706
10	Andrea Locatelli	Kalex	16.868
11	Remy Gardner	Kalex	25.633
12	Tetsuta Nagashima	Kalex	25.948
13	Bo Bendsneyder	NTS	26.997
14	Dominique Aegerter	MV	27.462
15	Jorge Martin	KTM	27.482
16	Jesko Raffin	NTS	39.435
17	Khairul Idham Pawi	Kalex	49.582
18	Philipp Ottl	KTM	51.247
19	Lukas Tulovic	KTM	51.380
20	Somkiat Chantra	Kalex	53.778
21	Gabriele Ruiu	MV	1'19.156
22	Dimas Ekky Pratama	Kalex	1'19.286
	Iker Lecuona	KTM	5 Laps
	Marco Bezzecchi	KTM	6 Laps
	Xavi Cardelus	KTM	12 Laps
	Brad Binder	KTM	16 Laps
	Fabio Di Giannantonio	Speed Up
	Lorenzo Baldassarri	Kalex
	Xavi Vierge	Kalex
	Joe Roberts	KTM