Moto2: Espargaro stars at Phillip Island

Spain’s Pol Espargaro has one glove on the Moto2 World Championship after a brilliant victory in the 2013 Tissot Australian Moto2 Grand Prix at a sun-drenched Phillip Island.

As fears of rain evaporated, so did the 22-year-old’s concerns about the destination of the title.

Espargaro took command of the shortened 13-lap race from his fifth pole position of the season, going on to claim his fifth win of 2013 on the Tuenti HP40 Kalex by just over half a second from Tom Luthi’s Interwetten Suter.

With pre-race Championship leader Scott Redding watching from hospital after breaking his left wrist in Saturday’s qualifying, Espargaro took full advantage and now leads the Englishman by 16 points with just two races to go – and Redding also likely to miss next week’s penultimate round in Japan.

As if that were not enough, Espargaro’s teammate and the third title challenger Esteve ‘Tito’ Rabat missed any chance of closing the gap to his compatriot when he ran wide on the left through Doohan Corner (Turn 1) on lap 5.

Although Rabat fought hard for eighth place – his first failure to be on the podium in four races – he now languishes 36 points behind Espargaro and 10 adrift of Redding.

“Today, I think, is the greatest day of my life,” beamed Espargaro after his second straight win at Phillip Island. “Finally we come here to Australia, my favourite circuit – without Scott, who was fast all weekend. To race in these conditions is not the best but finally we are leading the Championship.”

Luthi, recovering his best form after a devastating pre-season crash, chased Espargaro until he went too deep into Turn 4 on lap 11.

“I tried to catch him, for sure!” said the 27-year-old Swiss rider. “It was a short race – maybe too short for me! I caught Pol up, then made a mistake and I needed more time to catch him again.”

Third place went to 26-year-old Spanish rider Jordi Torres, only his second podium finish after his win in Germany. A fine late-braking manoeuvre at Turn 4 on lap 10 carried Torres past Island specialist Alex de Angelis, who eventually finished fifth behind Simone Corsi.

The man who thrilled local fans with second place here last year, Ant West, produced a trademark dash from the seventh row of the grid to claim 10th place on his QMMF Speed Up.