Joe Roberts fends off a late Manuel Gonzalez charge to take his first win of the season in Mugello and close the gap to the top at the standings, with current championship leader Sergio Garcia settling for fourth.
The race start was delayed until 12:30pm local time because of the red flag from the Moto3 race, resulting in a cut of laps to two thirds distance. (12 laps)
Roberts got off the mark well kept hold his lead into Turn 1 with Alonso Lopez and Darryn Binder following the American Racing bike.
Ai Ogura made the best start off the line, putting his MT Helmets bike up to fourth from 12th. The end of the first lap saw him drop to seventh as he struggled to match the pace of the lead group.
A Lap 3 battle between Aron Canet and Sergio Garcia put his Fantic Racing bike up to fifth, which has allowed him to stay in contention with the lead group.
Fermin Aldeguer struggled with neck pains throughout the weekend putting him 18th on the grid, but a crash out early on Lap 4 means he will leave Mugello with zero points. Jeremy Alcoba crashed out himself as a result.
Aldeguer’s Speed Up team-mate Alonso Lopez caught Joe Roberts napping to lead proceedings, with the intention of trying to stretch a lead.
On Lap 5 Binder crashed out in the fast sector two and sector three split despite a promising performance, with the South African out of contention while sitting fourth. His struggles with the Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP team continue on, having only accumulated four points this season.
Roberts restored second place as he slotted past Miguel Gonzalez and eyed up Garcia in front.
Both ran each other ride on Lap 9 resulting in both riders dropping back to third and fourth, elevating Canet up to second as a result. Canet saw an opening in an audacious move on Gonzalez to lead, but his lead was short lived.
Roberts found a way through Garcia’s MT Helmets in the final sector before a display of late braking into Turn 1 on Lap 10 put him into first place once more.
Roberts and Gonzalez established a distance between themselves and the pack heading into the final lap, with Gonzalez edging the American into Turn 1.
Turn 2 saw an immediate reply from Roberts who found a space on the inside and successfully managed to keep Gonzalez at bay for the rest of the lap.
The American was able to win his second Moto2 race on one of his favourite circuits, edging out Gonzalez in a heated last-lap battle.
Lopez held off the threading MT Helmets duo of Garcia and Ogura with the trio separated by under 0.3 of a second.
Despite leading for a brief period, sixth place was all Canet could muster before Celestino Vietti rounded off a steady seventh place to finish as lead Red Bull KTM rider.
Izan Guevara finished eighth in his best performance of the season, with Thai rider Somkiat Chandra finishing behind in ninth.
American Racing team rider Marco Ramirez put his bike in tenth, while Moto2 rookie Diogo Moreira finishing a Moto2 best of 11th.
Jake Dixon recovered to claw back 12th place, ahead of Deniz Öncü and RW-Idrofoglia Racing GP rider Zonta van den Goorbergh.
Mario Aji earns himself the final point in the classification, finishing 15th and 13 seconds off the leader.
