Moto2™ : penultimate round

As the Moto2™ grid reaches Phillip Island for the penultimate round of the world championship at the AirAsia Australian Grand Prix, Team CatalunyaCaixa Repsol's Marc Márquez stands a very good chance of winning his first ever intermediate class title.The Spaniard, who holds a 48-point advantage over nearest title rival, Tuenti Movil HP 40's Pol Espargaró, can only not win the title this weekend should his rival win the race and Márquez not collect any points. And as unlikely as this may have seemed, with Márquez's uncharacteristic crash in Malaysia last weekend, it just shows that every scenario is still possible. Espargaró, who was down in 11th in the wet, will be hoping for dry conditions, as he stated his bike is great in the dry, but not fully up to scratch when it rains.With the two Spaniards dicing up front, an entertaining battle for third in the championship is brewing, with Speed Master's Andrea Iannone and Interwetten-Paddock's Tom Lüthi only separated by 11 points. The Swiss rider, who is known to be good in the wet, crashed out of the Sepang round, and will be looking to make amends at the fast and flowing Australian circuit, while Iannone will look to fight at the top once more, to get some more podiums to his name before his switch to the Junior Ducati Team in MotoGP™ next year.In a lonely fifth in the table, Marc VDS Racing Team's Scott Redding still has a mathematical chance of third in the table, but will have to rediscover his good form that has seen him take numerous podiums already this season. His teammate Mika Kallio, and Tech 3 Racing's Bradley Smith will also be ones to watch, having gone well last weekend in Sepang. Should the weather turn on the Moto2 field once more, all eyes will not doubt once again on NGM Mobile Forward Racing's Alex de Angelis, QMMF Racing's Anthony West and Federal Oil Gresini Moto2's Gino Rea, who were in a class of their own in treacherous conditions in Sepang, with all three taking to the podium.World Championship Standings Moto2™1- Marc MárquezSPASuter2832- Pol EspargaróSPAKalex2353- Andrea IannoneITASpeed Up1884- Thomas LuthiSWISuter1775- Scott ReddingGBRKalex148 Communication MotoGP - www.motogp.com -

Source: http://www.fim-live.com/en/media/news/news-detail/article/1351065544-moto2TM-penultimate-round/

Angelo Bergamonti Werner Bergold