Category: Moto2

The sixth round of the 2019 Moto2 World Championship took place in Mugello, for the Italian Grand Prix, and saw Alex Marquez (EG 0,0) claim his second successive victory, and second of the season.

It was Tom Luthi (Dynavolt Intact GP) who made the best start, leading from teammate Marcel Schrotter (Dynavolt Intact GP) on the opening lap. Their gap over the rest of the field was increased thanks to a quite audacious move by Luca Marini (Sky Racing Team VR46) on Alex Marquez in the Sevelli corner. Marquez held his position but the gap to the Dynavolt duo was already quite large.

Marquez had shown strong pace over the course of the weekend – the strongest, in fact – and he needed that pace to overhaul the advantage of the two leaders. When he arrived he had brought Marini with him, but the Spaniard was able to pass both Dynavolt bikes in quick succession and make a break in the lead before Marini could do the same.

In fact, it seemed like Marini had accepted that it was not going to be possible for him to catch Marquez even if he passed Luthi quickly, so the Italian observed the Swiss rider, before finally making his move on lap thirteen.

With championship leader Lorenzo Baldassarri (Flexbox HP 40) not far behind, it seemed that Luthi would struggle to make the podium, but once Marini passed him the #12 was able to rally, and he picked his pace back up to stick with the Italian.

In the final laps Baldassarri’s pace, after charging through the pack from down in fifteenth on the grid, started to slow and that ensured a podium position for Luthi, although he could do nothing about Marini in front.

No one, though, could begin to think about doing anything about Alex Marquez, who was completely dominant in winning his second race of 2019. Two wins in a row have brought him right into title contention, as the 2014 Moto3 World Champion heads to him home round at Montmelo just two points behind the championship leader, Baldassarri.

Luca Marini’s second place was the result of a complete turnaround in form from the previous European races. The start to the season had not gone to plan for Marini, especially the Spanish and French rounds which preceded Mugello, but after a positive test in Barcelona after the French Grand Prix , the Italian was able to be strong throughout his home Grand Prix weekend, and he will hope for this to continue as the series heads towards the halfway point.

Third place was an important result for Tom Luthi, who was previously without a podium since his win in Austin at round three. With Baldassarri’s poor weekend, it was always going to be important for the Swiss to make in-roads into the Italian’s championship advantage in Italy, and he did just that.
The strong comeback from Baldassarri, though, limited the damage he took.

Coming from fifteenth the Italian finished fourth, his first finish of the season off the top step. With the momentum swinging the way of Alex Marquez in recent races, the Catalan Grand Prix could prove a pivotal one in the course of this championship, and it will be important for Baldassarri to respond.
Just a couple of tenths behind Baldassarri was his teammate, Augusto Fernandez (Flexbox HP 40), who swapped places with Tom Luthi in that he missed the podium for the first time since the championship arrived in Europe as he finished fifth, owing to a bad start.

Enea Bastianini (Italtrans Racing Team) was the top rookie in sixth place, having battled in the final laps with Fernandez for the top five, losing out by only 0.012 seconds. It seems that this season continues to improve for Bastiaini.

One second back from Bastianini was Jorge Navarro (MB Conveyors Speed Up) who missed the podium for the first time since COTA as he finished seventh, ahead of Schrotter, Sam Lowes (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2) and Fabio Di Giannantonio (MB Conveyors Speed Up) who recovered from contact with Xavi Vierge (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) on lap one to score his first Moto2 top ten.

Mattia Pasini, once again replacing Khairul Idham Pawi at Petronas SRT, finished a disappointing eleventh, ahead of Vierge and Remy Gardner (ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team) who is still yet to show the form he displayed in the fly away races in Europe. Tetsuta Nagashima (ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team) and Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) completed the points, Binder being the top KTM rider in a lowly fifteenth.

Jorge Martin (Red Bull KTM Ajo) took sixteenth place, ahead of Dominique Aegerter (MV Agusta Idealavoro Forward), Andrea Locatelli (Italtrans Racing Team), Bo Bendsneyder (NTS RW Racing GP) and Lukas Tulovic (Kiefer Racing) who completed the points. Twenty-first went to Philipp Oettl (Red Bull KTM Tech3), ahead of Steven Odendaal (NTS RW Racing GP), Marco Bezzecchi (Red Bull KTM Tech3), Dimas Ekky (IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia) and Xavi Cardelus (Sama Qatar Angel Nieto Team) who was the final finisher in twenty-fifth.

The contact between Xavi Vierge and Fabio Di Giannantonio on lap one at Poggio Seccho caused Diggia to collide with Iker Lecuona (American Racing). The Spaniard fell and his race was over before the first lap. Somkiat Chantra’s replacement at IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia, Teppei Nagoe, was the next to go on lap four, before Stefano Manzi (MV Agusta Idealavoro Forward) and Nicolo Bulega (Sky Racing Team VR46) both crashed with fourteen laps to go. Simone Corsi (Tasca Racing Scuderia Moto2) was the next to go a lap later, before Jake Dixon (Sama Qatar Angel Nieto Team) fell eleven laps from the flag. Joe Roberts (American Racing) was the final retirement on lap sixteen.

Featured Image courtesy of David Goldman/Marc VDS.

The Moto2 qualifying session for the sixth round of the 2019 World Championship at Mugello, the Italian Grand Prix, got underway under the Tuscan sun and the riders who were unable to qualify for Q2 in free practice tried to advance through Q1.

The four riders who made it to Q2 from Q1 were: Xavi Vierge (EG 0,0 Marc VDS); Jorge Martin (Red Bull KTM Ajo); championship leader Lorenzo Baldassarri (Flexbox HP 40) and Nicolo Bulega (Sky Racing Team VR46).

In Q2, it was Marcel Schrotter (Dynavolt Intact GP) who took pole position, one which he will be hoping to convert to his first GP win tomorrow. Schrotter took pole position from Tom Luthi (Dynavolt Intact GP) who held P1 for much of the session, but ended up second behind his German teammate, whilst Alex Marquez (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) completes the front row fresh off the back of his win in Le Mans.

Nicolo Bulega had his best performance since moving to Moto2, as the rookie qualified fourth, ahead of Jorge Navarro (MB Conveyors Speed Up) and Sky Racing Team VR46 teammate Luca Marini, who seems to have recovered some form this weekend after a difficult couple of races in Spain and France.

Tetsuta Nagashima (ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team) heads up row three tomorrow, from Sam Lowes (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2) and Augusto Fernandez (Flexbox HP 40); while Remy Gardner (ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team) completes the top ten and is joined on row four by Enea Bastianini (Italtrans Racing Team) and Jorge Martin, who out-qualified his Red Bull KTM Ajo teammate, Brad Binder, for the first time this season.

Simone Corsi (Tasca Racing Scuderia Moto2) is joined on row five by Fabio Di Giannantonio (MB Conveyors Speed Up) and championship leader Lorenzo Baldassarri (Flexbox HP 40) to ensure the fifth row is an all-Italian affair; whilst Andrea Locatelli (Italtrans Racing Team) heads up row six and is joined by Xavi Vierge and a mysteriously slow Mattia Pasini (Petronas SRT), to ensure the #97 is the Spanish meat in the Italian sandwich on the sixth row.

Brad Binder was the fastest of those to not make Q2, and he starts nineteenth tomorrow ahead of Bo Bendsneyder (NTS RW Racing GP) and Dominique Aegerter (MV Agusta Idealavoro Forward) on row seven.

Row eight sees Stefano Manzi (MV Agusta Idealavoro Forward) ahead of Iker Lecuona (American Racing) and Lukas Tulovic (Kiefer Racing); whilst the ninth row has the Red Bull KTM Tech3 pairing of Marco Bezzecchi (25th) and Philipp Oettl (27th) sandwiching Joe Roberts (American Racing).

Steven Odendaal (NTS RW Racing GP) heads up row ten, from Dimas Ekky (IDEMITU Honda Team Asia) and Jake Dixon (Sama Qatar Angel Nieto Team); while Xavi Cardelus (Sama Qatar Angel Nieto Team) was faster than only Somkiat Chantra’s replacement at IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia, the GP newcomer and JSB1000 regular for the HARC-PRO Honda squad Teppei Nagoe who completes the grid.

Featured Image courtesy of Dynavolt Intact GP

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