125cc: Faubel clinches victory in Qatar
Aprilia rider Hector Faubel clinched victory in the 125cc race in Qatar over Bancaja Aspar teammate Gabor Talmacsi
The two riders, who started in second and first place respectively, were both pipped by fifth-spot Spaniard Sergio Gadea at the first corner, but soon overtook him and opened a big gap to the rest of the field.
Gadea retired from the race with five laps to go, after having dropped well down the field after suffering from what appeared to be engine gremlins.
Talmacsi closed the 1.5 seconds gap Faubel had over him at mid-race to take the lead on lap 12. The Spaniard looked happy enough with conceding the lead, and did not try to retake it for a couple of laps, visibly sitting up on the front straight.
At the beginning of lap 15, with three to go, Faubel again overtook his Hungarian teammate, but left a gap at the beginning of the last lap, which Talmacsi duly filled.
Midway through that last lap it looked like the race was over, but Faubel closed the gap again and slingshot past Talmacsi just a few metres before the finishing line.
Third place was a close affair between Lukas Pesek and Raffaele de Rosa, with the Czech beating the Italian, over 17 seconds behind the leaders.
Fifth and sixth places went to Simone Corsi and Tomoyoshi Koyama respectively.
Italian championship contender Mattia Pasini had a difficult race. At the end of the second lap, while in second place, he looked like he had developed some sort engine problem and dropped down to 13th. After a quick visit to the pits on lap seven, he went through the gravel trap with three laps to go and retired from the race.
Briton Bradley Smith started in ninth and, after dropping down to 17th at the first corner, he worked his way back up in the race to 12th position.
CLASSIFIED: Pos Rider Make Time 1. Hector Faubel Aprilia 38:12.029 2. Gabor Talmacsi Aprilia + 0.073 3. Lukas Pesek Derbi + 17.499 4. Raffaele De Rosa Aprilia + 17.754 5. Simone Corsi Aprilia + 25.642 6. Tomoyoshi Koyama KTM + 25.877 7. Pol Espargaro Aprilia + 28.437 8. Esteve Rabat Honda + 28.527 9. Pablo Nieto Aprilia + 28.708 10. Alexis Masbou Honda + 33.669 11. Joan Olive Aprilia + 40.665 12. Bradley Smith Honda + 40.679 13. Michael Ranseder Derbi + 40.915 14. Mike Di Meglio Honda + 41.671 15. Andrea Iannone Aprilia + 41.764 16. Nicolas Terol Derbi + 48.643 17. Sandro Cortese Aprilia + 48.656 18. Lorenzo Zanetti Aprilia + 48.858 19. R.Krummenacher KTM +1:03.160 20. D.Agerter Aprilia +1:23.074 21. Joey Litjens Honda +1:23.147 22. Steve Bonsey KTM +1:31.521 23. R.Tamburini Aprilia +1:59.152 24. H.van den Berg Aprilia +2:00.040 NOT CLASSIFIED/RETIREMENTS: Rider Make On Lap Daniel Webb Honda 16 Mattia Pasini Aprilia 15 Stefano Bianco Aprilia 14 Sergio Gadea Aprilia 12 S.G.Giorgi Aprilia 7 Federico Sandi Aprilia 4 Robert Muresan Derbi 3 Fastest Lap: Gabor Talmacsi, 2:06.267 on lap 10
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