Category: Moto2

The fifth round of the 2019 Moto2 World Championship took place in Le Mans, avoiding the rain that had been forecast for Sunday, but under heavy clouds.

Jorge Navarro (Lightech Speed Up) started from pole, but it was Tom Luthi (Dynavolt Intact GP) who made the holeshot. The lead for Luthi was unrepresentative, though. Poor pace in the dry on Friday was a foreshadowing of what was to come for the four-times French Grand Prix winner, and he soon dropped back.

From there, it was Alex Marquez (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) who took the initiative, and started to squeeze out a gap from those behind.

As the race went on, and Marquez’ advantage edged out towards one second, Simone Corsi (Tasca Racing Scuderia Moto2) headed to the front, and once he had arrived in second was closing down the Spaniard. The Italian had the gap down to four tenths with fifteen laps to go, but crashed at the final corner and his chances were done.

This let Marquez off the hook, somewhat. Adding to this let off for Marquez was a mistake from Jorge Navarro a few laps later. Navarro had inherited second from Corsi when the Italian fell, and was starting to make an impression on Marquez’ lead before a mistake dropped him back into the clutches of Augusto Fernandez (Flexbox HP 40), who was able to pass a few laps later when Navarro made another mistake at Garage Vert.

This would then become the biggest battle of the closing stages of the race, as the two Spaniards each tried their hardest to hand the other second place, with Fernandez running wide in Musee, before Navarro ran wide in Garage Vert once more. Eventually, Navarro was able to string a few corners together and create himself an advantage on the final lap ahead of Fernandez.

However, Marquez was imperious out front, as he took his and Spain’s first win in the intermediate class of Grand Prix racing since Motegi 2017, twenty-five races ago. It was a cool and controlled race from Marquez, with no mistakes – something we did not see from the Spaniard in 2018. He will hope this is a sign of things to come, and the start of his championship challenge.

Jorge Navarro’s second place was not his maximum. He had the pace to challenge Marquez, but a series of mistakes, including a repeat of the poor start that cost him the win in Jerez, meant he was unable to make the push for victory. However, it was another impressive ride from the #9, and that first Moto2 win seems to be coming closer.

The same could be said for Augusto Fernandez, who finished third behind Navarro for the second race in succession, although a strong fight through the pack this time for the #40 rider showed a different race to that which he had in Spain. Like Navarro, Fernandez is improving every weekend, and surely his first World Championship victory is not far away.

Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) took delivery of a new KTM frame for this weekend, and it seems to have been a step in the right direction for the South African, who finished fourth after overcoming Xavi Vierge (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) in the final laps, whilst Vierge came home in fifth.

Sixth place went to Tom Luthi (Dynavolt Intact GP). Starting from the front row, to end in sixth seems like a bad race, but on Friday his pace did not seem capable of even that, so these ten points can be important ones for his championship.

Enea Bastianini (Italtrans Racing Team) took seventh, and top rookie with it, finishing ahead of the injured Marcel Schrotter (Dynavolt Intact GP), Iker Lecuona (American Racing) and Nicolo Bulega (Sky Racing Team VR46), who was running in seventh before a mistake at turn one saw him riding through the gravel at turn three in the closing stages, but managed to hold on to close out the top ten.

Tetsuta Nagashima (ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team) finished eleventh, ahead of Fabio Di Giannantonio (Lightech Speed Up), Luca Marini (Sky Racing Team VR46), Joe Roberts (American Racing) and Stefano Manzi (MV Agusta Idealavoro Forward) who completed the points.

Like the preceding Moto3 race, there were many retirements, with Andrea Locatelli (Italtrans Racing Team) being the first to fall at turn three on the opening lap. He was followed by championship leader Lorenzo Baldassarri (Flexbox HP 40) – who holds onto his points lead – with the Italian continuing his ‘win or bin’ record of 2019, and his pointless record in France. When Baldassarri fell, he took compatriot Mattia Pasini (Petronas SRT) with him. Somkiat Chantra (IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia) and Sam Lowes (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2) were the next to go, before Corsi fell. Then Bo Bendsneyder (NTS RW Racing GP) retired the #64 NTS, just before Steven Odendaal (NTS RW Racing GP) crashed the #4 bike. Remy Gardner (ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team) then crashed out of sixth, before Xavi Cardelus (Sama Qatar Angel Nieto Team) and Dimas Ekky (IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia) crashed out. Dominique Aegerter (MV Agusta Idealavoro Forward) was the final retirement, on the last lap, as he ran out of fuel.

Featured image courtesy of David Goldman;/Marc VDS

Having been baked by the Andalusian sun since the start of the Moto3 race, the track temperature was a toasty 37 Celsius ahead of the race for the fourth round of the 2019 Moto2 World Championship.

The start was messy. Augusto Fernandez (Flexbox HP 40) made the holeshot, then Remy Gardner (ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team) high-sided coming out of turn one, in an incident which then involved Dimas Ekky (IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia), Marco Bezzecchi (Red Bull KTM Tech3) and Alex Marquez (EG 0,0 Marc VDS). Of particular concern was Dimas Ekky, who had fallen from his bike and then slid down the track into the side of Bezzecchi, which is what took the KTM rider out. Both Ekky and Gardner were taken to the medical centre for checks.

The race was then red flagged, shortened to fifteen laps and would restart with the quick restart procedure. This was bad for Alex Marquez, whose team was only able to get his bike fixed in time for him to start from pit lane. His bike was still badly damaged at the restart, and so his pace was slow and he made no real progress, which was a shame for him in his home race as he had looked quite strong through the weekend.

At the front, the holeshot once more went to Augusto Fernandez as Jorge Navarro (HDR Heidrun Speed Up) made a poor jump. It was poor enough, in fact, for Lorenzo Baldassarri (Flexbox HP 40) to jump the Spaniard as well from the back of the second row. Even Nicolo Bulega (Sky Racing Team VR46) was able to get ahead of Navarro in turn one from fifth on the grid.

It went badly from there, though, for Bulega on the opening lap, as the #11 was shoved wide in turn two and turn six. He dropped to tenth, which proved to be about where his pace was.

Back to the front and Tom Luthi (Dynavolt Intact GP) had come through to third place. Navarro had dropped behind Xavi Vierge (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) and was now under pressure from Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) who had already made his mark on the race by pushing his way through Marcel Schrotter (Dynavolt Intact GP) in the beginning of the race – the German was pretty much sent to the long lap lane at turn thirteen, but the move was fair enough from Binder.

The two Pons riders of Fernandez and Baldassarri were escaping at the front. A mistake from Luthi in turn two solidified this. Now free from the attentions of Luthi, Baldassarri was able to focus completely on his teammate, Fernandez, whilst Luthi had to deal with Navarro behind, who had been able to get past Vierge.

Soon, Baldassarri was able to pass Fernandez in the final corner, and immediately he slowed the pace. Before Baldassarri had gotten in front both he and Fernandez had been lapping in the high-1’41s, but as soon as the Italian hit the front the pace dropped to the low-‘42s. Fernandez was all over his teammate, but his strong point was the mid-corner and could not get through.

As Navarro started homing in on the two Flexbox HP 40 riders, Baldassarri started to check out, and Fernandez made a mistake in turn one. This dropped him into the clutches of Navarro, who slipped past in turn six with just over a lap to go.

There wasn’t much time, but Navarro was closing on Baldassarri. The Italian was forced into one last push on the final lap to keep the Speed Up rider at bay, and it worked. Baldassarri claimed his second successive win at Jerez, his third of the season and the fifth of his career. After his no-score in Austin, it was important for Baldassarri to strike back in Spain, and that he did, opening up a seventeen-point lead in the World Championship.

Jorge Navarro was disappointed with second place because he had the pace to win. Had the race been full-length he almost certainly would have – the shorter race distance worked against him on this occasion. Nonetheless, a second successive podium finish for Navarro represents some good progress, which he will hope to continue in Le Mans.

Third place represented Augusto Fernandez’ first ever Grand Prix podium, having made a name for himself last year when replacing Hector Barbera in the Pons team. After the crash of Argentina which caused the injury that kept him out of Austin – and from which he still suffers – a debut podium is a good way to return to action.

Tom Luthi could only manage fourth place. In fairness, it was better than he had looked through the weekend, but nonetheless he dropped a lot of points to Baldassarri, which he will need to recover – at least in part – in Le Mans.

Brad Binder came home in fifth place, ahead of Xavi Vierge. The problems of KTM were highlighted by Jorge Martin’s (Red Bull KTM Ajo) tweet on Saturday night where he said he would need a “miracle” on Sunday, and also by Mattia Pasini’s (Sama Qatar Angel Nieto Team) weekend, which he spent most of outside the top twenty, after finishing fourth on the third-placed bike of Jerez three weeks ago in Texas. If Binder is to fight for the title, KTM need to make some big progress very soon.

Tetsuta Nagashima (ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team) was going to have to start from pit lane in the first race, so benefited from the red flag which allowed him to start from his original grid position, from where he was able to come home in seventh.

Luca Marini (Sky Racing Team VR46) had a poor weekend, but made a decent comeback in the race to finish eighth, ahead of teammate Nicolo Bulega who was ninth. Iker Lecuona (American Racing KTM) completed the top ten.

Enea Bastianini (Italtrans Racing Team) had his worst result of the season with eleventh, ahead of Fabio Di Giannantonio (HDR Heidrun Speed Up) who had looked better than twelfth for most of the weekend. Dominique Aegerter took (MV Agusta Idealavoro Forward) back into the points for the second GP in succession, ahead of Andrea Locatelli (Italtrans Racing Team) in fourteenth and Marcel Schrotter who was unable to recover from his incident with Binder in the beginning of the race.

Dimas Ekky and Remy Gardner missed the restart having been taken to the medical centre. Khairul Idham Pawi (Petronas SRT) also missed the start, as he was injured and declared unfit in a practice one crash on Friday.

Simone Corsi (Tasca Racing Scuderia Moto2) was the first retirement on lap three, before Mattia Pasini, Sam Lowes (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2) and Jorge Martin all crashed.

Featured Image courtesy of RACEPIXS.DE/DYNAVOLT INTACT GP

After taking his second pole position of the season in Texas, and generally dominating the Moto2 weekend in the Lone Star State, Marcel Schrotter (Dynavolt IntactGP) was the favourite to take his first Moto2 win in Sunday’s race.

The German made it to turn one first, but ran wide, allowing Alex Marquez (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) into the lead and fellow Dynavolt IntactGP rider, Tom Luthi into second place.

There was also a reasonable gap between the two Dynavolt bikes, however when Luthi engaged Marquez in an initial battle for the lead, the German was able to close in.

Luthi’s first attempt to go for the lead was a failure, as Marquez was able to resist the Swiss’ assault. A few laps later, though, and as Schrotter had fallen back once more, Luthi made a second attempt to take the lead away from Marquez, and this time it worked. Luthi passed Marquez on the inside at turn twelve, forced the Spaniard out a little wide and thus prevented him from mounting a counter-attack.

From there, Luthi went unchallenged. Even when Schrotter was finally able to pass Marquez for second, he was unable to close the gap to his teammate.

Instead of for the lead, the main battle that was developing now on track was that for fourth place, as Sam Lowes (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2) was falling back towards Jorge Navarro (Beta Tools Speed Up) and Luca Marini (Sky Racing Team VR46), and Mattia Pasini (Flexbox HP 40) was not too far behind either, having surpassed fellow Italian veteran Simone Corsi (Tasca Racing Scuderia Moto2) for seventh.

The gap between Navarro and Marini behind Lowes swung back and forth throughout the race, as Marini’s strong pace was intervened by series of small mistakes. But, ultimately, the pair of them were closing down on Lowes’ fourth place.

 

Once Navarro was able to pass Lowes, Marini soon followed suit, recognising the strong pace the Spaniard was showing, and the Speed Up rider was closing on Alex Marquez for third. Marini managed to go with Navarro and join the battle for the final podium position.

Before long, Mattia Pasini had passed Lowes to join in the fight, too, as Navarro and Marini struggled to make a pass stick on Marquez.

Eventually, Navarro was able to pass Marquez, and a few mistakes from Marini – some induced by gearbox issues that had plagued many riders throughout the weekend – allowed the #9 to break away and consolidate his third place.
The mistakes of Marini had allowed Pasini to pass, and set on after Marquez. Soon the Italian was through, and Marquez was back in the clutches of Marini, although the #10 ran out of time to make his move.

All of this was happening nearly five seconds behind the dominant winner, Luthi, who took his first win of his Moto2 return, and became the first rider to win a Moto2 race the year after being dropped from MotoGP since 2010, when Tony Elias, Alex De Angelis and Yuki Takahashi all took wins. Despite his DNF in round two at Argentina, Luthi now lies just five points behind the championship leader.

Second in the Texan race and now second in the World Championship standings is Marcel Schrotter, who will be content enough with his second podium from three races, but the frustration will be there having missed out on what was looking to be a nailed on win for the German.

An impressive first podium in Moto2 for Jorge Navarro came at just the right time for the Spaniard. Two years of relatively poor performances compared to what was expected of the multiple Grand Prix winner mean that this season is somewhat ‘make or break’ for him. To now go into the European season – which begins in two weeks in Jerez – off the back of his first intermediate class rostrum should be a good confidence boost for the Speed Up rider.

Having not ridden a Triumph Moto2 bike before this weekend, the speed Mattia Pasini showed in practice was quite remarkable. Moreover, his late race pace having not ridden a Grand Prix since last November was similarly remarkable, and his emotion at taking this fourth place when he arrived back in the garage after the race was understandable. It is a shame that Pasini is currently ambulance chasing, but hopefully sooner rather than later we will see the #54 back on the grid on a permanent basis.

Fifth place was where Alex Marquez ended up, nearly eight seconds behind the lead he once held. Once more, it was a disappointing late-race performance after a decent start from the Spaniard, a trend which has characterised his races over the past year. Jerez is next up, and he needs to change this trend at his home Grand Prix.

Sixth place went to the sixth-placed rider in the standings, Luca Marini. For a man who is still suffering some after-effects from his shoulder surgery at the end of last year, it is probably quite positive that he can be severely disappointed with a sixth place. He had his first podium of the year in sight at one stage, but the aforementioned mistakes let that get away. Despite being over twenty points behind now in the World Championship, Marini will be confident of a turnaround as the championship heads into its European segment in two weeks.

Sam Lowes ended up seventh. He pushed on hard at the end, the group fighting ahead giving him confidence he could bridge the gap that had grown to the battle for the top five. However, he could not make enough of an impression, and the Brit now lies thirty-one points behind in the championship standings.

Simone Corsi came home in eighth, unable to go with Pasini once the Pons rider went through. Just under two seconds behind Corsi was Enea Bastianini (Italtrans Racing Team) who once more took top rookie honours in ninth, and finished over six seconds ahead of his Italtrans teammate, Andrea Locatelli, who rounded out the top ten.

A difficult qualifying made for a tough race for Remy Gardner (ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team) who finished eleventh. The Aussie finished three tenths clear of his Stop and Go teammate, Tetsuta Nagashima in twelfth; then came Bo Bendsneyder (NTS RW Racing GP), Dominique Aegerter (MV Agusta Idealavoro Forward) who scored MV’s first GP points in forty-two years; and finally Jorge Martin (Red Bull KTM Ajo) who was the first KTM home and rounded out the points.

Sixteenth went to Jesko Raffin (NTS RW Racing GP), ahead of Khairul Idham Pawi (Petronas Sprinta Racing), Philipp Oettl (Red Bull KTM Tech3), Lukas Tulovic (Kiefer Racing), Somkiat Chantra (IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia), Stefano Manzi’s replacement at MV Agusta Idealavoro Forward, Gabriele Ruiu, and finally Dimas Ekky (IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia) who was the twenty-second and final finisher.

There were four retirements on the first lap alone. As usual in COTA, there was some mayhem at turn one, as Joe Roberts (American Racing) got into Fabio Di Giannantonio (Beta Tools Speed Up) with the pair then collecting Xavi Vierge (EG 0,0 Marc VDS), taking all three of them out of the race. Then, Jorge Martin had a moment on the throttle on the exit of turn nine, and championship leader Lorenzo Baldassarri (Flexbox HP 40) had nowhere to go but into the back of the Spaniard, and down he went. Such was his performance in the first two races, Baldassarri keeps hold of his championship lead by three points from Schrotter.

Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) was the next to retire with a mechanical, and then Xavi Cardelus (Sama Qatar Angel Nieto Team) dropped out. The best weekend of Marco Bezzecchi (Red Bull KTM Tech3) in Moto2 ended with a crash six laps from the flag in turn one. Ike Lecuona (American Racing) was the final retirement, five laps from the end.

Featured image courtesy of Dynavolt IntactGP

The cancellation of the FP3 sessions for all classes in Austin on Saturday meant that for the Moto2 riders, the day was spent waiting all day for their qualifying session, which came after the other two GP classes.

Despite the lashings of rain all day, Q1 got underway in dry conditions, and Jorge Martin (Red Bull KTM Ajo) joined Bo Bendsneyder (NTS RW Racing GP), Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) and Marco Bezzecchi (Red Bull KTM Tech3) in advancing to Q2 to join the fastest fourteen riders from Friday.

Binder immediately put his extra track time from Q1 compared to those riders directly through to Q2 to good use, as he led the early part of the session, although the fastest riders from day one in Texas built their rhythm, and eventually overhauled the South African’s top time.

It was Marcel Schrotter (Dynavolt Intact GP) who took pole position, his second of the season after securing first on the grid back in Qatar. The German was dominant on Friday, and continued that into qualifying. Whilst it took him a while to find the confidence in the wind, and after a day of sitting around and waiting, once he found his rhythm he was always going to be difficult to better.

That said, Alex Marquez (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) got close, and was just 0.058 seconds away from Schrotter’s pole time by the end of the session. Last year’s pole sitter will be hoping he can better translate that qualifying speed into a good race pace than what he managed last year, when he finished second, two seconds shy of the winner Francesco Bagnaia.

Sam Lowes (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2) completes the front row for the Moto2 Grand Prix of the Americas. The British rider has a good history at the Texan track, but has been somewhat under the radar this weekend. After a crash in Argentina, a solid points haul will be important in the race for Lowes.

Fourth place went to Tom Luthi (Dynavolt Intact GP). He was following Schrotter on the German’s pole lap, and was making a time which could have been good enough for the front row, but a mistake in sector three cost him seven tenths, and any chance of the first row. However, fourth place is not a disaster for the Swiss, who will look to return to the podium after a crash in Argentina.

Brad Binder ended Q2 in fifth, a good result for the KTM rider on a weekend where the Austrian marque seems to be struggling quite significantly in the intermediate class.

Speed Up won the 2015 Moto2 Grand Prix of the Americas with Sam Lowes, and a sixth place for Jorge Navarro (Beta Tools – Speed Up) puts him in a good position to fight at the front in the race four years on. The Spaniard has yet to make a serious impression on the Italian frame this season, something he will hope to change in the race.

Before Friday, Mattia Pasini (Flexbox HP 40) had never ridden a Triumph-powered Moto2 bike. However, he has been fast all weekend in his replacement ride for the injured Augusto Fernandez, and qualified in an impressive seventh place.

Reigning Moto3 World Champion Jorge Martin had a pretty dreadful Friday. The Spaniard spent much of his time on day one in Texas outside of the top twenty. However, after advancing through Q1, the Spaniard was able to put a good performance together in Q2 to qualify in the middle of row three, just under half a second behind Pasini, and a third of a tenth ahead of Simone Corsi (Tasca Racing Scuderia Moto2) who lines up on the back of row three in ninth.

Luca Marini was quite strong on one lap speed on Friday, ending both sessions in fourth, but qualifying did not go to plan for the Italian, who will start from the head of the fourth row in tenth, ahead of Andrea Locatelli (Italtrans Racing Team) and Marco Bezzecchi, who had his best qualifying in Moto2.

Row five sees Fabio Di Giannantonio (Beta Tools – Speed Up) line up ahead of Tetsuta Nagashima (ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team) and championship leader Lorenzo Baldassarri (Flexbox HP 40). The Italian has a poor record in Austin, with a best finish of only tenth. However, after looking reasonably competitive on Friday he would have hoped for a better result in qualifying, but as it is he will need a good start and some good luck to make it through turn one cleanly.

Bo Bendsneyder enjoyed his best Moto2 qualifying of the season in sixteenth, ahead of Enea Bastianini (Italtrans Racing Team) and Remy Gardner (ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team), who has been competitive all weekend, but ruined his qualifying with a nasty crash on the exit of turn nine, and will line up back in eighteenth.

The fastest rider to not make Q2 was Iker Lecuona (American Racing), who will line up nineteenth, ahead of a disappointing Xavi Vierge (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) in twentieth and Jesko Raffin (NTS RW Racing GP) in twenty-first.

Joe Roberts (American Racing) will start his home GP from twenty-second, ahead of Khairul Idham Pawi (Petronas SRT) and Somkiat Chantra (IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia) on row eight.

Philipp Oettl (Red Bull KTM Tech3) will start the race from the head of row nine, alongside Lukas Tulovic (Kiefer Racing) and Stefano Manzi’s replacement Gabriele Ruiu (MV Agusta Idealavoro Forward); whilst the injured Xavi Cardelus (Sama Qatar Angel Nieto Team) and Dominique Aegerter (MV Agusta Idealavoro Forward) complete the grid.

Neither Dimas Ekky (IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia) nor Jake Dixon (Sama Qatar Angel Nieto Team) set a time, with Ekky cashing out at the beginning of Q1, and Dixon being ruled out after his nasty Friday practice crash due to concussion.

Featured image courtesy of Dynavolt Intact GP

After two straight wins for Lorenzo Baldassarri (Flexbox HP 40), the Moto2 World Championship heads back to the Americas for round three of the 2019 season, at the Circuit of the Americas in Texas.

Unfortunately for Baldassarri, COTA has been one of his worst tracks in Moto2. He crashed in his first Moto2 outing at the Austin circuit in 2014; finished twenty-sixth and second-last in 2015; in 2016 he was second-last and twenty-third; he crashed again in 2017; and last year he took his best result in Texas, with a tenth place. This weekend could prove to be a big damage limitation job for the championship leader, but his form in the first two races would suggest he is up to that task.

Alex Marquez (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS) has a last name with mixed connotations. Of course, there are benefits to being the younger brother of a seven-times motorcycle Grand Prix World Champion, but the name also brings with it a lot of expectation and pressure, the justification of which is subjective. Arguably, the Marquez name brings the most pressure in Texas, where older brother Marc has never been beaten, and won his first MotoGP race back in 2013. Alex Marquez looked the nailed on winner ahead of last year’s race, before tyre woes in the latter stages saw him finish second to eventual series winner, Francesco Bagnaia. Marquez currently sits sixth in the championship, twenty-five points behind double-winner Baldassarri, after going 7-3 in the first two rounds of the season. With Baldassarri seeming destined to struggle this weekend, the Grand Prix of the Americas could be the chance Marquez needs to announce himself as a championship contender.

However, it will not just be Marquez who will be looking to break Baldassarri’s 100% record this weekend.

Remy Gardner (ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team) has been one of the surprise packages of 2019 so far, just missing out on his debut podium in Qatar, before finally achieving it last time out in Argentina. He looked to be able to win in Termas, but when Baldassarri made his move on the Aussie, he was forced wide, and after that the Italian was able to extend the gap. Such a strong start to the season makes Gardner an outside championship contender at this stage, and he will look to confirm that this weekend.

Contrarily, almost, Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo), Sam Lowes (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2) and Luca Marini (Sky Racing Team VR46) – who were probably the three outstanding championship favourites coming into this season – will be looking to establish themselves in this, the third round of the championship.

Brad Binder was given a one-place penalty in Argentina for irresponsible riding. The penalty was probably fair, as many of the moves Binder put on his rivals, especially in the closing stages of the race, were past the limit. The penalty meant he finished sixth which, combined with a difficult Qatar, means the South African lies seventh in the championship, thirty-six points off Baldassarri.

Sam Lowes had an even more disappointing time in Argentina, crashing out early on. He now sits eleventh and forty points off Baldassarri in the championship. Fortunately for Lowes, he has good memories of Texas, as it is where he took, in fine style, his first Grand Prix win back in 2015 on the Speed Up, a result he will be hoping to match this weekend as he looks to recover points to the championship leaders.

Luca Marini lies just ahead of Binder in the championship, by three points. The Italian has been recovering from a shoulder surgery from last year in the first part of this year. Whether the fitness of the Italian will be improved this weekend is unsure, but the physicality of COTA means that it will be important for Marini to be in a good condition for this weekend, if he is to make a good result.

What is for certain is that Marini’s Sky Racing Team VR46 teammate, Nicolo Bulega, will not be in COTA at all, due to his physical condition. Bulega pulled out of the Argentina race because of arm pump, and surgery this week will see him miss round three of the series, in the hopes of being close to full fitness in Jerez at the beginning of May.

Bulega is not the only Moto2 rider absent this weekend, as Augusto Fernandez (Flexbox HP 40) is out after his monster crash in free practice two weeks ago. The Spaniard will be replaced for the American round of the World Championship by Mattia Pasini.

Image courtesy of Gold and Goose/KTM

The 2019 Argentinian Moto2 Grand Prix saw Lorenzo Baldassarri (Flexbox HP 40) take his second win of the season with a controlled ride, but comparative chaos amongst the other riders.

In that sense, the race started as it was to go on, with Sam Lowes (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2) having a big lunge up the inside of turn one, only to run wide and drop back to sixth.

That meant that it was Marcel Schrotter (Dynavolt IntactGP) who took the early lead, essentially from pole position since Xavi Vierge’s Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Kalex expired on the warm up lap, meaning the pole setter was unable to start the race.

Along with Schrotter, Remy Gardner (ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team), Alex Marquez (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS) and Lorenzo Baldassarri formed a group of four which detached itself slightly from the chasing pack.

This, however, changed when Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) caught onto the back of the four and brought Iker Lecuona (American Racing) with him.

Before Binder was able to bridge the gap, however, he was hit from behind by Tom Luthi (Dynavolt IntactGP) which caused the Swiss to crash, and moments later Sam Lowes followed him down in sympathy.

Upon Binder’s arrival on the back of the front group, Lorenzo Baldassarri decided it was time to go. This would prove to be a smart decision, as Binder’s passes from this point in the race left a lot to be desired.

Whilst one of his earlier passes within the front group, made on Alex Marquez in turn thirteen, was a well-calculated affair, the ones which followed almost invariably involved contact on the apex, and running his rival wide, unnecessarily. This came to a head on the final lap, after he had punted Schrotter wide in turn two on the previous lap, and now hit Luca Marini (Sky Racing Team VR46) on the apex of turn seven. He then sat up Schrotter again (the German had passed both Marini and Binder when Binder made his move in turn seven) in turn thirteen to take fifth place.

Whilst this was going on, Lorenzo Baldassarri had taken the lead from Remy Gardner, forcing the Australian wide in turn five as he moved over slightly in the braking zone whilst he tried to tough it out round the outside. The move gave Baldassarri the lead and a one second advantage to second place which, at the time, was occupied by Alex Marquez.

This changed at the end of the lap when Gardner came back through on Marquez and then on after Baldassarri. However, it was to no avail, as the Italian’s pace was simply superior, and allowed the #7 to take his second win from two races. With the crash for Luthi, the Italian saw his championship advantage stretch to seventeen points.

Remy Gardner inherited second place in the championship courtesy of taking second place in Argentina to back up his fourth in Qatar. The win was available for Gardner, but Baldassarri’s forceful move prevented that. However, the Australian rode well, making several fantastic passes, as well as looking at home in the front group. His time will come, and for now a first World Championship podium should sit well with the Australian who was so upset with having missed out in Qatar.

Third place in the end went to Alex Marquez, a prediction he will have likely laughed off had you told him that on Friday, which was something of a disaster for both him and his teammate, Vierge. Unlike in the past, in this race Marquez fought back after being shuffled back in the pack, and whilst he didn’t have the pace of Baldassarri or Gardner in front, he maximised his points score from what was looking like a difficult weekend. With a view to the championship, this has been a good result for Marquez, and one he will look to build on in Texas before his home race in Jerez.

Iker Lecuona took a career-best result of fourth place from Termas, and finished as top KTM thanks to Binder’s antics, which saw him finish fifth and two seconds behind Lecuona.

Sixth place went to Schrotter, although he had the pace to fight for the podium, and Luca Marini ended up seventh after his battle with Binder in the final lap.

Jorge Navarro (Beta Tools Speed Up) took eighth place, ahead of top rookie Enea Bastianini (Italtrans Racing Team) who took that honour for the second round in succession, despite a difficult weekend. Perhaps the surprise of the day, though, was Bastianini’s fellow rookie, Somkiat Chantra (IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia), who took the first top ten of his Moto2 and Grand Prix career in just his second World Championship race.

Andrea Locatelli (Italtrans Racing Team) took eleventh, ahead of Tetsuta Nagashima (ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team), Khairul Idham Pawi (IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia), Bo Bendsneyder (NTS RW Racing GP) and Jesko Raffin who was the final points scorer.

Featured image courtesy of David Goldman/MarcVDS