Marquez wins 2012 Moto2 championship

In 2011, the CatalunyaCaixa Repsol rider was the class of the field, winning seven races before an eye injury that blurred his vision saw him withdraw from the final two races of the season. This year, Marquez crashed a lot less - and won a lot more! Victory in the 2012 season opener at Qatar was followed by wins at Estoril, Assen, Sachsenring, Indianaoplis, Brno, San Marino and Motegi.

Those who saw Marquez race at Phillip Island last year will remember his barnstorming ride from 38th on the grid to finish third. Coming to this year's Australian round, Marquez had a handy 48-point buffer under his belt, so could afford to take it easy in the race.

The Moto2 race at Phillip Island started poorly for polesitter Pol Espargaro (Tuenti Movil HP 40 Kalex) who dropped behind Takaaki Nakagami (Italtrans Racing Team Kalex), Márquez and Tom Luthi (Interwetten-Paddock Suter) within the first few corners. However, Espargaro quickly bounced back to take the lead from Marquez on lap 3.

The battle between the two Spaniards allowed Scott Redding (Marc VDS Racing Team Kalex), Nakagami and Johann Zarco (JiR Moto2 Motobi). At the same time, Australia's Anthony West (QMMF Racing Team Speed Up), fresh from a podium at the preceding round in Malaysia, was closing in on the leaders, too.

While Marquez fell into the clutches of Redding on lap 6, Espargaro was stretching out a significant lead. Behind them, West led a freight train including Dominique Aegerter (Technomag-CIP Suter) and Simone Corsi (Came IodaRacing Project FTR).

With 12 laps remaining Redding had not dropped off Marquez, whilst Espargaro had pulled out an enormous gap of over eight seconds. Meanwhile Thomas Luthi (Interwetten-Paddock Suter) looked to be struggling as he had dropped into 12th, while Espargaro's teammate Esteve Rabat had fought his way up to sixth. On lap 16, Luthi crashed out, citing a rear tyre issue.

With Espargaro untouchable in the lead, the crowd's attention was focusing on West, who had broken away from his pack and was closing on Redding and Marquez. In the final half dozen laps, West was on the tail of Marquez, while Nakagami, Zarco, Corsi and Aergerter were trading positions.

On lap 23, West made his move on Marquez, then rounded up Redding on the final lap to take his second podium in as many rounds. Marquez also passed Redding on the final lap to take third in the race, and an unbeatable championship lead. Espargaro's winning margin at the chequered flag with an enormous margin of over 16 seconds.

A total of nine wins, one of which in Japan saw him fight his way through the whole pack, and 13 podiums saw the Spaniard take his maiden Moto2 World Championship title before moving up to the Repsol Honda Team in MotoGP next season.

Images: motogp.com