Rain was the big protagonist in the 250cc Italian Grand Prix as the riders had to do laps in the wet for the first time from the starting grid. Simoncelli was the early leader in the race, with Mapfre rider Álvaro Bautista chasing him down with some storming laps. The controversial Italian gave another dubious display during the battle for the lead, knocking both bikes into the gravel with an overly optimistic move on Bautista. Both returned to the track, but Mattia Pasini had been able to get away to take the home win.

With five race winners from as many Grands Prix, nobody has yet been able to escape in the standings. Bautista leads the way after his spectacular race, which he started from pole. Lap after lap he hunted Simoncelli, then had to do it all over again after the incident between the two. With three laps to go he had a scary wobble on the bike, and had to settle for third. He is now seven points ahead in the series.

3rd Álvaro Bautista: “It started to rain on the grid, and we had to change bikes. The goal was to get more confident in the wet, because we hadn’t practiced in it all weekend. I saw that I could chase Marco, so I got to work and caught him. I couldn’t see anything because of the rain and decided to pass him then. Later in a corner where there wasn’t any space left he touched me and we ran off track which cost me a lot of time and distance. I tried to catch him again, but when I was in passing distance I made a mistake in the chicane and lost my chance of victory. I am happy to still be on the podium and especially because I was pretty fast in the wet, but I’m annoyed about the way in which I lost my chance to win.”

Pos | Rider | Nation | Team | Total time | Gap

1 Mattia PASINI ITA Team Toth Aprilia 45’38.391
2 Marco SIMONCELLI ITA Metis Gilera 45’38.508 0.117
3 Alvaro BAUTISTA SPA Mapfre Aspar Team 45’39.684 1.293
4 Thomas LUTHI SWI Emmi – Caffe Latte 46’02.948 24.557
5 Hector BARBERA SPA Pepe World Team 46’05.405 27.014
6 Hiroshi AOYAMA JPN Scot Racing Team 250cc 46’08.428 30.037
7 Alex DEBON SPA Aeropuerto-Castello-Blusens 46’09.716 31.325
8 Hector FAUBEL SPA Valencia CF – Honda SAG 46’13.569 35.178
9 Raffaele DE ROSA ITA Scot Racing Team 250cc 46’23.247 44.856
10 Roberto LOCATELLI ITA Metis Gilera 46’24.874 46.483
11 Alex BALDOLINI ITA WTR San Marino Team 46’27.912 49.521
12 Mike DI MEGLIO FRA Mapfre Aspar Team 250cc 46’38.930 1’00.539
13 Karel ABRAHAM CZE Cardion AB Motoracing 47’02.121 1’23.730
14 Ratthapark WILAIROT THA Thai Honda PTT SAG 47’03.910 1’25.519
15 Imre TOTH HUN Team Toth Aprilia 47’08.788 1’30.397
16 Balazs NEMETH HUN Balatonring Team 47’07.283 1 Lap
17 Axel PONS SPA Pepe World Team 47’07.373 1 Lap
18 Bastien CHESAUX SWI Racing Team Germany 47’07.608 1 Lap
19 Valentin DEBISE FRA CIP Moto – GP250 47’32.464 1 Lap
20 Daniel ARCAS SPA Milar – Juegos Lucky 46’39.370 3 Lap

Not classified
48 Shoya TOMIZAWA JPN CIP Moto – GP250 Honda 13’48.480 15 Lap
52 Lukas PESEK CZE Auto Kelly – CP Aprilia 11’22.134 16 Lap
56 Vladimir LEONOV RUS Viessmann Kiefer Racing Aprilia 9’33.535 17 Lap

Not finished 1st lap
16 Jules CLUZEL FRA Matteoni Racing Aprilia

Pos | Rider | Team | Lap time | Gap

1 Alvaro BAUTISTA Mapfre Aspar Team 1’53.931
2 Marco SIMONCELLI Metis Gilera 1’54.277 0.346
3 Hector BARBERA Pepe World Team 1’54.508 0.577
4 Hiroshi AOYAMA Scot Racing Team 250cc 1’54.595 0.664
5 Mattia PASINI Team Toth Aprilia 1’54.970 1.039
6 Mike DI MEGLIO Mapfre Aspar Team 250cc 1’55.019 1.088
7 Alex DEBON Aeropuerto-Castello-Blusens 1’55.217 1.286
8 Roberto LOCATELLI Metis Gilera 1’55.249 1.318
9 Shoya TOMIZAWA CIP Moto – GP250 1’55.722 1.791
10 Hector FAUBEL Valencia CF – Honda SAG 1’55.751 1.820
11 Thomas LUTHI Emmi – Caffe Latte 1’56.158 2.227
12 Alex BALDOLINI WTR San Marino Team 1’56.342 2.411
13 Ratthapark WILAIROT Thai Honda PTT SAG 1’56.410 2.479
14 Lukas PESEK Auto Kelly – CP 1’56.466 2.535
15 Karel ABRAHAM Cardion AB Motoracing 1’56.727 2.796
16 Raffaele DE ROSA Scot Racing Team 250cc 1’56.796 2.865
17 Axel PONS Pepe World Team 1’57.620 3.689
18 Jules CLUZEL Matteoni Racing 1’58.327 4.396
19 Imre TOTH Team Toth Aprilia 1’58.391 4.460
20 Valentin DEBISE CIP Moto – GP250 1’58.894 4.963
21 Vladimir LEONOV Viessmann Kiefer Racing 1’59.297 5.366
22 Balazs NEMETH Balatonring Team 2’00.773 6.842
23 Bastien CHESAUX Racing Team Germany 2’00.818 6.887
24 Daniel ARCAS Milar – Juegos Lucky 2’01.645 7.714