It was a typical 125cc race at Mugello, as expected, with eleven riders bunched together at the front making use of the slipstream to fight for lead positions down the longest straight in the championship.

The lead constantly changed hands until with fourteen laps remaining Iannone broke down, giving Bradley Smith breathing space at the front and an opportunity to stretch out the field.

Like at Jerez one month ago it was his team-mate Julián Simón who gave chase, with Nico Terol for company, the trio going head to head for victory. In the end it was Smith who held off the Spanish challenge, with Terol and Simón third.

With pole position, the quickest practice pace and a dominant display in warm-up it was a far from coincidental victory for the Bancaja team, who have dominated here with an iron fist. For Smith it was enough to move him to the top of the championship, 3.5 points ahead of Simón, with a gap of a further 24.5 points back to the man in third.

“This has been a great day for me. At the start I was riding really carefully because the tyres were cold and it wasn't worth risking it in those conditions. As the laps went by I grew in confidence and when I took the lead I felt comfortable but then I made a couple of mistakes. I had to drop the pace as a result, calm myself down and rethink my strategy”, he explained. “The team have been fantastic again because the bike has been really fast since Friday and we've had no problems. When a weekend goes this well it is no coincidence that you have a chance of winning in the race. Mugello is an awesome circuit and my mechanics are Italian so to win here means more to us than just 25 points. We've got two wins now, we're leading the championship and that is all the motivation we need to keep working hard and hopefully score another good result for the team in Barcelona.”

The British teenager was chased hard by his team-mate, who set the fastest lap of the race – a 1'58.744 – on the eighth lap top spark an exciting three-way tussle for glory. Unfortunately Simón could not carry the fight to the end of his 100th Grand Prix as he suffered engine problems over the final two laps.

“I'm really pleased because I made a much improved start to the race and was able to make sure I stuck with the leaders, which was important because there was a big group and if you got pushed to the back of it you could easily lose touch. I had to keep my focus because Smith was setting a very fast and consistent rhythm and then when Iannone broke down he had a clear gap”, he said. “I just tried to keep up and not lose sight of him and I managed to stay in the 1'58s, which considering the track conditions was a good lap time. At the end of the race I could see that the bike temperature was over ninety degrees and it gave me a fright because I thought I wouldn't finish the race. I made it to the line and we were lucky because the bike was doing all sorts of strange things on the last two laps. The team have been brilliant here and I'm delighted to be able to celebrate a podium with them.”

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