Reigning 125cc Champion Marc Márquez (Team CatalunyaCaixa Repsol) took his second Moto2 victory of his debut season in tricky conditions at the Iveco TT Assen, climbing six places in the championship to put him second in the standings.

The 18-year-old finished in front of Kenan Sofuoglu (Technomag-CIP) in second, the Turkish rider’s first podium of the season, and Bradley Smith (Tech 3) in third.

Both Sofuoglu and Smith lead the field throughout the race, battling with Spanish star Márquez and Yuki Takahashi (Gresini Racing), who made it up to second position before crashing out with only four laps to go.

Mike di Meglio (Tech 3) was also an early front runner until he crashed out as well.

Australia’s Anthony West (MZ Racing) rode a strong race to finish fourth, his best finish of the season so far.

West was chased by Alex de Angelis (JiR Moto2) in fifth and Mattia Pasini (Ioda Racing Project) in sixth, who welcomed the top 10 finish after his DNF in the last round at Silverstone.

Esteve Rabat (Blusens-STX), Thomas Lüthi (Interwetten Paddock Moto2), Randy Krummenacher (GP Team Switzerland Kiefer Racing) and Max Neukirchner (MZ Racing) completed the top ten.

As the track began to dry the rain tyres started to wear and it became clear that the matter of staying upright was affected by the fast degrading tyres.

The end of the race produced a number of crashes, including championship leader Stefan Bradl (Viessmann Kiefer Racing), who fell in the chicane with three laps to go, failing to finish a race for the first time this season and seeing his championship lead narrowed slightly.

It was not a good day for Gresini Racing Moto2 team, as Michele Pirro followed his team mate Takahashi and crashed on the last lap.

Maverick Viñales charged to his second victory of 2011 at the Iveco TT Assen, pulling a two and a half second gap over Luis Salom in second and Sergio Gadea in third before rain produced a red flag.

Rookie Viñales (Blusens by Paris Hilton Racing Team) pulled away from the way from the field of the 125cc riders, after a thrilling start saw a group of eight riders battling for the lead.

The 16-year-old had dropped back as far as ninth position, only to make his way back to the front, finally making an outside pass on Sandro Cortese (Intact Racing Team Germany) to take the lead on lap 10.

The start of the race saw Sergio Gadea charge into the lead in the first corner and ride an aggressive race, making some astonishing passes through the chicane and trading places with the two Derbis of Johann Zarco (Avant-AirAsia-Ajo) and Efrén Vázquez.

Gadea finally finished third when rain produced the red flag and called the race at lap 15. As two thirds of the race distance had been covered, full points awarded as of positions on lap 14.

Luis Salom (RW Racing GP) battled with Cortese and Gadea, making a pass on Gadea just in time to place second in the race. Cortese ended in fourth, followed by Zarco in fifth, Danny Kent (Red Bull Ajo Motorsport) in sixth and Vázquez in seventh.

Jonas Folger (Red Bull Ajo Motorsport) was in the lead pack until he had a big moment in turn one, finishing the race in eighth position, in front of Marcel Schrötter (Mahindra Racing) in ninth and Héctor Faubel (Bankia Aspar) in 10th.