Category: Moto2

A difficult weekend in Australia – the most challenging of his 2018 season so far – meant that Francesco Bagnaia (Sky Racing Team VR46) had to wait to be crowned 2018 Moto2 World Champion. Fortunately for Pecco, he has another shot this weekend, and at the more conventional Sepang International Circuit, with its bipolar characteristics in comparison to Phillip Island, the Italian rider has the 2018 intermediate class title firmly in his sights ahead of this weekend.

As has been the case for a while now, Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Ajo) is the only rider who can stop Bagnaia from clinching the crown this weekend. To do so, the Portuguese must outscore Bagnaia by twelve points to ensure the championship fight goes down to the final round in Valencia. Of course there are many situations which could allow this to happen but the simple way to put this is to say that Oliveira has to win with Bagnaia finishing off the podium for the title to go down to the wire.

But, will Oliveira win? Given his recent form, you would say probably not. After his Red Bull KTM Ajo teammate Brad Binder’s victory last time out in Australia, Oliveira now has less wins than the South African over the course of the season, and hasn’t won since Brno at the beginning of the second half of the season. If ever there was a time for Miguel to turn around his form, it would be now, but that doesn’t mean it is going to happen.

Of course it was Oliveira who won the Moto2 Malaysian Grand Prix last year, as Franco Morbidelli wrapped up the 2017 title. This victory was the second of his back-to-back-to-back wins to finish off the season, and Brad Binder is coming into this weekend with the possibility to make a repeat of his teammate’s results of last year. Binder is in fantastic form at the moment, and has at least had the matching of Oliveira since his win in Aragon. The race the South African put together in Phillip Island was stunning, and suitable given Kork Ballington’s recognition as a MotoGP Legend on the same weekend. However, should Oliveira’s pace be enough to fight for the top positions, there should be no doubt that Aki Ajo, Pit Beirer and the rest of the top KTM mob will be urging Binder to play the team game.

Another crash for Lorenzo Baldassarri (Pons HP40) last time out meant that Binder almost has third place in the championship wrapped up, sitting forty-one points ahead of the Italian. Coupled with Joan Mir’s (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) second place in Oz and suddenly there is quite a big fight again for fourth in the championship, with only four points separating Baldassarri in fourth at the moment, and Mir’s Marc VDS teammate Alex Marquez in sixth.

It is Mir who has the Sepang form, too, after having taken the Moto3 victory in Malaysia last year. In comparison, both Marquez and Baldassarri crashed out last season. If form is anything to go by then Mir could have that fourth place all but wrapped by the time the chequered flag comes out on Sunday.

Augusto Fernandez (Pons HP40) had his best weekend as a Grand Prix rider last weekend in Phillip Island. The Spaniard was fast from the get-go in FP1 and missed the podium for all of 0.008 seconds to Xavi Vierge (Dynavolt Intact GP) who also saw a return to form. Remember, also, that this weekend will not be Fernandez’ first time in Sepang, as he rode the Speed Up last season, finishing just half a second behind his then teammate Simone Corsi.

Vierge also had a strong weekend in Malaysia last year, finishing eighth on the Tech 3. Vierge’s teammate, Marcel Schrotter, will be hoping for better luck this weekend, as he showed some stunning pace in the race, but had to use it all to come from last on the grid thanks to mechanical troubles on the line. It wasn’t such a good race for Schrotter last year, though, in Malaysia, as he finished second-last and nearly one minute off the win.

As well as Schrotter, Luca Marini (Sky Racing Team VR46) will be after a better weekend in Sepang than he experienced last season, when he crashed on the first lap. Not only will Marini want to make a good result for himself this weekend, but he will also want to be at the front to help Bagnaia, his teammate, in his quest for the title. Throughout this season it has been clear that Marini is very aware of his teammate’s situation, and has proved a strong number 2 for Bagnaia – just look at how happy Luca was to have taken four points from Oliveira in the final laps of the Thai Grand Prix a few weeks back.

That sort of assistance could prove vital this weekend, as Francesco Bagnaia looks to bank his second match point.

From the qualifying session from the Moto2 Australian Grand Prix, we learned that Francesco Bagnaia (Sky Racing Team VR46) and Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Ajo) would not be fighting for the victory on Sunday. In fact, Brad Binder, Oliveira’s teammate was the pre-race favourite, after qualifying on the second row in fifth place.

Contrasting starts for the two championship combatants saw the Bagnaia climb up into the top five in the early laps, whilst Oliveira languished just inside the points. The lead chopped and changed at the front in the early stages, and soon Bagnaia’s lack of pace became evident as he started to fall back through the pack, and towards Oliveira.

At the front it was a big scrap, with Mattia Pasini (Italtrans Racing) being joined in a group fight for the lead by Xavi Vierge (Dynavolt Intact GP), Brad Binder, the two HP40 Pons machines of Lorenzo Baldassarri and Augusto Fernandez, Iker Lecuona (Swiss Innovative Investors), Luca Marini (Sky Racing Team VR46), Remy Gardner (Tech 3 Racing) and Joan Mir (EG 0,0 Marc VDS). Both Baldassarri and Marini had shown some impressive pace in the early laps after the start; after getting caught behind Bagnaia in the initial stages they both managed to clear their VR46 Riders Academy colleague and join the fight at the front.

However, by the time they had arrived in the lead battle, Pasini had hit the deck, crashing out at turn four, and continuing his record of having never scored an intermediate class point at Phillip Island.

Soon after, Lecuona went down as he was trying to pass Vierge in the Southern Loop. Lecuona got a decent run through Doohan’s and looked on the inside of Vierge at turn two, but didn’t get far enough alongside his compatriot, who wiped the KTM rider’s nose sending the pair of them wide and Lecuona onto the grass, losing control and falling.

The next rider to drop out of the leading group was Remy Gardner, who crashed at MG (turn ten) on lap thirteen. It was a shame for Gardner, who had enjoyed a good home Grand Prix weekend, and was certainly in the mix for a top result.

That left Baldassarri, Fernandez, Mir, Binder, Vierge and Marini to fight it out for the win – at least until Baldassarri went down at MG with three laps to go.

With Baldassarri down, Binder made his move, climbing from fifth on lap 22 to second a lap later, before taking the lead on the penultimate lap, a lead which he held going into the final tour.

A strong move from Vierge on Fernandez at the Honda Hairpin let the two leaders escape a little, which was enough to ensure that the win was decided in a duel. Marini was unable to take advantage of Vierge and Fernandez running on as he ran on himself in the same corner.

A strong final lap from Binder ensured that he had enough distance to Mir going into MG – the last real overtaking opportunity of the lap – so the Spaniard couldn’t make a move, and had to focus on getting a good run from the final corner to try to slipstream Binder to the line.

Binder should have been far gone, really, but a good run through the final two corners for Mir, and what looked like too much spin for Binder gave the rookie a chance, although the South African’s tow proved insufficient to pull Mir by, and the 2016 Moto3 World Champion took his third win of the season.

Not only did Binder gain from this the satisfaction of taking victory, but he also surpassed his championship-contending teammate’s win total for the season, and heavily strengthened his position in third in the standings, which was also assisted by Baldassarri’s late crash.

Second place for Mir means he has one less race to try to claim his first Moto2 win before he steps up to MotoGP next season with Suzuki. Certainly the Phillip Island circuit saw a return to form for the reigning Moto3 World Champion, and he needs to carry this into Sepang and Valencia if he is to take a win before 2018 is through.

Joining Binder and Mir on the podium was Xavi Vierge, who won out in the all-Spanish fight for the bottom step of the podium. It was Vierge’s second podium of the season, and first since his injury in Austria. Like Mir, he will be aiming to carry this forward into the final two rounds in search of his first Moto2 World Championship victory.

Augusto Fernandez enjoyed yet another impressive performance for HP40 Pons, and built on his encouraging Japanese GP weekend one week ago. He missed the podium by 0.008 seconds to Vierge.

Fifth place for Luca Marini was well deserved. After the race he complained of chatter towards the end, which he offered as an explanation to his final lap mistake at Honda. Another solid result for him means that he looks to be ending the season in a good way, which is positive for him as he looks to 2019 and what should be a championship challenge.

Dominique Aegerter finished sixth in what was his best race of the season, which came at the end of his best weekend of the season. It looks like the team are not going to be on the grid next year, so on the weekend which marked one year since the death of Stefan Kiefer, Aegerter’s result was timely to say the least.

Miguel Oliveira eventually came home in eleventh place, with his championship rival Francesco Bagnaia 1.1 seconds behind in twelfth. Ultimately, Bagnaia did what he had to do, and lost only one point to Oliveira. Bagnaia now has the opportunity to take the championship in Sepang, needing just eleven points to become the 2018 Moto2 World Champion.

The Australian Moto2 Grand Prix this weekend presents the first opportunity for Francesco Bagnaia (Sky Racing Team VR46) to become a World Champion.

The retrospective disqualification of Fabio Quartararo (Conveyors MB – Speed Up) in Japan last week handed the championship leader his eighth win of the season, and allowed him to increase his championship lead over Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Ajo) to 37 points. So, with two rounds to go after this weekend, Bagnaia needs a fifty-point advantage over Oliveira (who has two wins this year, and therefore cannot surpass Bagnaia’s total) at the end of the Australian Moto2 race to clinch the title before Sepang next week. That means Bagnaia needs to out-score his Portuguese rival by 13 points this weekend, and the most straightforward way which that can happen is with Bagnaia winning and Oliveira finishing no higher than fifth.

So, it’s possible that Bagnaia can be crowned this weekend, if somewhat unlikely. Oliveira’s season has not been an outstanding one, in that he hasn’t won an incredible number of races or had an obvious advantage on the field, but he has been incredibly consistent. Of the fifteen races so far this season, Oliveira has been on the podium in ten of them. In a year when the Moto2 field is arguably as tight as it ever has been, if not tighter, to miss the podium on only five occasions is quite impressive.

The problem for Oliveira has been winning, and that problem has been largely a consequence of his poor qualifying. Again, of the sixteen qualifying sessions so far (one more QP than races this season because Silverstone was rained off) Oliveira has qualified in the top ten only eight times, and on the front three rows only seven times. Furthermore, Oliveira has only one front row in 2018, which came back in Austria where he was second to Bagnaia.

On the positive side for Oliveira, though, is the Phillip Island circuit itself. The Portuguese has two wins at the Australian track, coming in 2015 and 2017. His win in Phillip Island last season kicked off his end-of-season triple-win, as he won the final three races of the season in Australia, Malaysia and Valencia. The #44 rider is going to need a similar run of form in the final three races of 2018 if he is to stand a chance of overcoming Bagnaia.

In fact, it could be that Oliveira’s KTM Ajo teammate, Brad Binder, proves one of the Portuguese’s strongest challengers. This is for two reasons: Binder’s form in the last races, and his recent form at Phillip Island.

Since Aragon, where Binder won, he has been at least a match for Oliveira in each race; playing the role of the good teammate in Thailand, even if he could do nothing about the later-race pace of Bagnaia’s Sky Racing Team VR46 teammate, Luca Marini; before battling for the entirety of the Japanese Grand Prix with Oliveira last weekend, to the misery of Red Bull KTM Ajo team boss, Aki Ajo.

About his Australian Grand Prix form, Binder has taken two podiums in the last two years, including a win in 2016. No doubt Binder will be after the win this weekend, but crucially it could work well for Oliveira should the #44 be unable to fight for the victory.

Whereas the two Red Bull KTM Ajo riders were on the podium in Australia last season, Francesco Bagnaia could only manage twelfth, so the way the weekend pans out for the championship contenders and their teammates (Luca Marini was the 23rd and last finisher in Phillip Island last year) will be fascinating.

Similarly interesting will be the performance of Jesko Raffin (SAG Team), who was a surprise in fourth place last year at the Island, ahead of the likes of Xavi Vierge and Alex Marquez, both of whom will be looking for better results compared to Japan last time out where Marquez (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) missed the podium with fourth and Vierge (Dynavolt Intact GP) could only manage seventh.

Joan Mir (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) will also be after an improvement on his Japanese GP result, as he finished down in eleventh, but the reigning Moto3 World Champion will have good memories of the Australian Grand Prix, as he won the lightweight class race at Phillip Island in 2017.

And, of course, after his partly controversial and muchly discussed Japanese DSQ, Fabio Quartararo will be desperate to find himself on the podium this weekend. The smooth riding style of the Frenchman, and his sweeping lines, should suit the fast turns of Phillip Island, and he could too have his hand to play in the Bagnaia vs Oliveira championship battle.

Contrarily, Augusto Fernandez’ progression at the moment is seemingly relentless, and a sixth place in Japan last time out only went further to proving that, and that the decision of HP40 Pons to retain the Spaniard for next year was a good one.

But, with the 2018 Moto2 World Championship on the line for the first time this weekend, all eyes will be on the relative performances of Francesco Bagnaia and Miguel Oliveira.

A win in the inaugural Thai Moto2 Grand Prix allowed Francesco Bagnaia (Sky Racing Team VR46) to increase his World Championship advantage to 28 points, with four rounds left in the season.

However, considering the form of his main championship rival, Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Ajo), in the final three races of 2017 – of which he won all three – and that there are still 100 points up for grabs in 2018, there is still a lot to play for this year, as the championship heads into the far-eastern triple-header, with Motegi and the Japanese Grand Prix first up this weekend.

But it was Alex Marquez (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) who won last year in Japan. In fact, his 2017 Japanese Grand Prix triumph remains his most recent victory in the Moto2 World Championship. The Spaniard’s hopes of a top three finish pretty much vanished at Thailand when he crashed out of a good position, and one from which he could fight perhaps for the podium. He now lies thirty-one points behind Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo), who is currently third in the standings, so perhaps his sights are now set on the fourth place of Lorenzo Baldassarri (Pons HP40).

Marquez’s form of late would also make it a surprise to see him take the top step this weekend, despite his success at the Twin Ring in the past, starting in 2013 when he took his first GP win at the Japanese track.

With that in mind, perhaps we should look at the two Red Bull KTMs of Miguel Oliveira and Brad Binder, as well as the two Sky VR46 bikes of Pecco Bagnaia and Luca Marini to be fighting for the win this weekend.

Bagnaia’s Thai win was stunning. The general thought pre-race was that the two factory KTMs would escape in the second half of the race when the tyre wear arrived. But instead, it was the opposite, and Bagnaia – once he settled into a rhythm – checked out and contented himself whilst out front with the five points that he would be gaining on Oliveira. Hence, he was rather excited to learn that his teammate, Marini, had taken second behind him, to steal another four points from Oliveira.

It was a welcome return to form for Marini, whose previous podium appearance back in Austria was starting to seem something of a while ago with some more difficult weekends in Misano and Aragon. However, the memories for Marini of Motegi are not fantastic, as he was the first retirement of the 2017 race.

Miguel Oliveira’s most recent memories of Japan are also not so fantastic, as he finished 7.5 seconds off the win last season in 7th place, and two seconds behind Bagnaia in 4th. However, Oliveira’s 2015 podium at the Japanese Grand Prix means he has one more rostrum finish in Motegi than his Italian rival, Bagnaia, whose best result in Japan was that fourth place twelve months ago.

Brad Binder looked at times as though he was faster than his championship-challenging teammate, Oliveira, in Thailand. However, he never broke rank, and allowed his Portuguese colleague to take the third place which could prove crucial in the championship in a few weeks’ time, and a similar ‘rear-gunner’ job by Binder could prove valuable for Oliveira in the remaining races of the season.

Other riders to watch out for this weekend include Lorenzo Baldassarri, who will be eager to bounce back after his disappointing crash off pole position in Buriram and Xavi Vierge (Dynavolt Intact GP) who took his first Grand Prix podium in Motegi last year.

Also, Joan Mir (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) is still after his first Moto2 win, and only has four rounds left to achieve that before he heads off to MotoGP next season with the Ecstar Suzuki squad. The Spaniard is also just two points behind his teammate, Marquez, in the standings, in the battle for the championship top five.

Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) started from his career first Moto2 pole position in the 2018 Moto2 Grand Prix of Aragon, and from it he took the holeshot, steaming clear of the pack through the opening bends.

However, Alex Marquez (EG 0,0 MarcVDS) was quick to latch onto the back of the South African, soon passed and started to escape at the front.
It did not last long, though, and after one lap, Binder had re-grouped and come back to the Spaniard, although he was in no hurry to make a move for the race lead.

Further back, meanwhile, Francesco Bagnaia (Sky VR|46) – who came into the fourteenth round of the season with an eight-point World Championship lead – had cleared Marcel Schrotter (Dynavolt Impact GP) for third place, and began closing in on the leading duo.

The now six-wheeled leading group was in something of a stalemate for a reasonable period. Aragon was proving a tricky circuit to pass on for the Moto2 machines, since the primary overtaking spots require a superior acceleration off the previous corner and a decent slipstream – both of which are hard to achieve on Moto2 bikes. This meant that to pass, the rider behind would have to catch the rider in front off-guard, and that is precisely what Bagnaia tried to achieve against Brad Binder in the final corner on lap thirteen.

But it didn’t pay off for the Italian. Binder had been running an especially wide line through the middle of the final corner all race long, and Bagnaia on this occasion was just close enough to have a look at passing the 2016 Moto3 World Champion with his more conventional, tighter line. However, Binder cut the KTM back, as every other lap, to take the apex of turn seventeen, and made contact with Bagnaia, forcing the Italian to sit up. It was a fairly hefty collision, so much so that it dislodged Binder’s rear-mounted camera from the back of the KTM, but fortunately both riders stayed aboard their machines with little-to-no damage.

But Bagnaia definitely came off worse out of the two, as he nearly high-sided, lost his rhythm and lost a position to Lorenzo Baldassarri (Pons HP40) – who had been closing on the leaders for a few laps by this point.

It took Bagnaia a few laps to regain his rhythm, and by the time he had reclaimed third place from Baldassarri, Binder had already had the lead for two laps, and started to pull away from Marquez.

It took Bagnaia two more laps to pass Marquez, which he did neatly down at turn one, but whilst he was able to escape from those behind, he was unable to make any ground on Binder ahead, and so was forced to consolidate his second position.

That left Binder to collect his second win of the season, after Sachsenring, to match his championship-contending teammate Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Ajo) for 2018 victories. The key for Binder was certainly his pole position lap in Saturday’s qualifying session, which strangely came at the end of the session. His starting position allowed him to use the race pace of the KTM, both in the initial stages of the race, and the final part, and he showed the potential.

The second place was an important result for Bagnaia. With Oliveira, his main championship rival, qualifying down in 18th place, it was crucial for the Italian to take advantage, and whilst he didn’t maximise his score, he did increase his advantage in the standings, which could be crucial as the championship heads to Asia for the four fly-away races.

Baldassarri was able to steal third place from Alex Marquez in the penultimate lap. It was an important result for the Italian, as he had not been on the rostrum since Mugello in the beginning of June. Undoubtedly, though, the Italian could have done more with a better qualifying, and this can be said for many races this season. Baldassarri is by no means alone in suffering qualifying woes in Moto2 this season, but his race performances perhaps only make that more frustrating.

Fourth place for Alex Marquez will no doubt leave the Spaniard disappointed, especially as he led for much of the race, and to miss the podium in his home race by three tenths will not be something he is revelling in, particularly. But, for the first time since Assen, Marquez was in the podium fight from lights to flag, and from that he can take some heart, because it looks like he is finally back on the pace after a few months of struggling.

Despite a decent qualifying and some promising early-race pace, Schrotter could not keep the pace of the front four, and in the end came home in what turned out to be quite a lonely fifth place.

That said, the German did come under some pressure from Joan Mir towards the end of the race, although the rookie never posed a real threat. Perhaps Mir was pushing on towards Schrotter to try to keep out of range of Miguel Oliveira, who was fast approaching from behind.

It was a tough race for the Portuguese rider. He started eighteenth, and only came up to fifteenth by the end of lap one. It took him until lap four to break into the top ten, and he didn’t make any more progress until lap ten when he moved up to ninth. Two more places gained in the final eleven laps gave Oliveira seventh place, but his disappointment at his position and the losses he suffered in the championship will only be heightened this weekend by the victory of his teammate. If Oliveira can’t qualify well, his championship chances are done.

Eighth over the line was Mattia Pasini (Italtrans Racing Team), whose pace suffered in the latter part of the race. Despite this, he still ended up coming out on top of the three-way battle between himself, Fabio Quartararo (MB Conveyors SpeedUp) and Jorge Navarro  (Federal Oil Gresini) over P8, 9 and 10 respectively.

Luca Marini (Sky VR|46) suffered with the bike setting and his damaged shoulder all weekend, and in the end could only manage eleventh place, ahead of Simone Corsi (Tasca Racing Scuderia), Augusto Fernandez (Pons HP40), Iker Lecuona (Swiss Innovative Investors) and Tetsuta Nagashima (Idemitsu Honda) who completed the points.

Coming into round fourteen of the 2018 Moto2 World Championship, Francesco Bagnaia sits atop the standings, with a points advantage he extended last time out at his home Grand Prix in Misano; as the intermediate class approaches Motorland Aragon this weekend, the Italian’s championship lead stands at eight points over main title rival Miguel Oliveira. In fact, Oliveira is the only rider threatening Bagnaia, as the pair have completely dominated this season so far; Brad Binder sits third in the championship, 87 points behind Oliveira.

Motorland has proved bipolar for the pair, looking at their past results at the circuit. Oliveira has scored two podiums in Aragon, with a win in the 2015 Moto3 race, and a podium last year in the Moto2 race. Meanwhile, Bagnaia’s best result has been tenth, which also came in last year’s Moto2 race, and he has only one other points-scoring finish here, which came in 2015 when he rode the Aspar Mahindra to eleventh. The relative void between the pair’s records at this circuit could make this race pivotal for the World Championship, especially as it is the final European race before the four fly-away races.

That said, Bagnaia is in a supreme vein of form at the moment, having won the last two races, and it would be a considerable surprise to see him not in contention this weekend, and no doubt he will be aiming for his seventh win of 2018 come Sunday.

But, for Oliveira, this race represents a good opportunity to take some points out of Bagnaia, and perhaps reclaim the championship lead, partly thanks to his good form in Aragon compared to Bagnaia, but also because of how the KTM performed in Motorland last year. Oliveira’s late race fightback towards the front two riders of Mattia Pasini and eventual winner Franco Morbidelli was typical of KTM, as he made the most of the Austrian chassis’ impressive tyre management, although he finally ran out of pace to catch the Italian pair with a few laps remaining.

With this being the second year of the KTM Moto2 chassis, and the improvements that we have seen with it in 2018, the Red Bull KTM Ajo team will be highly anticipating an assault on the victory from the Portuguese rider. Furthermore, with Jeffrey Herlings wrapping up the MXGP world title last weekend in Assen, and Jorge Prado edging closer to the MX2 championship with one Motocross World Championship meeting to go, you would expect that a lot more attention would start to come the way of the championship-contending orange-framed road racers, Oliveira being of course one of those.

Outside of the two runaway championship combatants, there are riders in the frame for not only the podium, but also the victory this weekend.

Firstly, Mattia Pasini who – as previously mentioned – fought with Franco Mobidelli until the very end of last year’s Moto2 race in Aragon, will be looking to step back onto the podium for the first time since he won in Argentina. Coming off the back of two consecutive fourth places – which marked something of a return to form for the Italian – the #54 is certainly in a good position to be able to end his rostrum drought.

As well as Pasini, Luca Marini will be hoping to return to the podium this weekend, after a tough race in Misano where he had to retire because of a problem with the bike early on in the race. Previous to that home GP disaster for Marini, he had scored three podiums in a row in the previous three races, and he will be hoping that he can bounce back from his San Marinese disappointment.

As Marini did earlier in the year, Marcel Schrotter picked up his first ever Grand Prix podium in Misano last time out, ending a long period of waiting stretching back for most of the season. It took Schrotter 105 GPs to take his first podium, and now the aim for the German will be to make it 106 GPs before his first win.

It will also be worth keeping an eye out for the two Marc VDS riders this weekend. Alex Marquez took his first Moto2 podium in Aragon back in 2016 when he finished third behind Sam Lowes and his then-teammate Franco Morbidelli. Similarly, Joan Mir won in Aragon last year in the Moto3 class, so will hoping to be fighting at the front again this weekend, especially after something of a dip in form over the last few races.

That win for Sam Lowes back in 2016 was the last time he stood on the podium of a Grand Prix, and of course also his last victory. On the approach to this weekend, the British rider has pinpointed Motorland as a good opportunity for him to take a good result and you feel that the #22 will not be contented by anything less than a rostrum finish this weekend. Additionally, Sam Lowes has become a father since Misano, and we saw the positive impact that had on Cal Crutchlow back in 2016 as he took two wins in the second half of that season. However, the first of Crutchlow’s races as a father began with a ride-through penalty for a jump start and a fifteenth place. Similarly, Aleix Espargaro was out of the Catalan GP earlier this season after six laps, the Barcelona race being the first Grand Prix after the birth of Max and Mia Espargaro. It’s fair to say that in recent history, new fathers have not done especially well in Grands Prix, but it is entirely possible that Lowes could be the anomaly this weekend.

After scoring yet another pole position on Saturday in Misano for the 2018 Moto2 San Marino Rimini Riviera Grand Prix, Francesco Bagnaia was in a fantastic position to go for his sixth race win of the season.

It was, however, not a completely straightforward beginning to the race for Bagnaia, as he had some small contact with Marcel Schrotter off the line. This came after some minor drama in the morning warm up, when Bagnaia was off the pace due to his leathers (new for this weekend for Sky VR46’s Sky Ocean Rescue one-off livery) being too tight. However, from turn one, Bagnaia was almost untouchable. He stretched the gap tenth-by-tenth for all of the twenty-five laps, also leading every single tour of the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli.

Bar one mistake, Bagnaia’s ride was flawless, giving his competitors no opportunity to challenge him. Whilst the race was not as exciting as, say, Austria, Bagnaia admitted that this win was one of his favourites, primarily because he has never won at home before. Importantly, though, Bagnaia was once again able to extend his gap at the top of the World Championship to eight points over Miguel Oliveira, and with just six rounds to go, every point is going to count.

It was a good damage limitation from Oliveira, though, who once more regressed to his poor qualifying performances, managing only ninth on the grid, whilst teammate Brad Binder qualified in the middle of the second row. The Portuguese recovered well, though, climbing to fourth place by the end of lap two and third one lap later. Once Mattia Pasini’s pace started to drop, the #44 together with Marcel Schrotter closed up to the back of the home rider and quickly disposed of him.

Oliveira was not left alone by Schrotter, though, the German fighting all the way to the final lap. Marcel’s move in turn fourteen didn’t work, both of them went wide, but Oliveira was able to tighten the line sooner and seal his second place.

It was a valiant effort, though, from Schrotter, and whilst he missed out on second place, he did finally pick up his first ever Grand Prix podium after 105 attempts.

Mattia Pasini finally crossed the line in fourth place, two seconds off the podium. It was the Italian’s second consecutive fourth-place finish, which is important for the #54 as he looks to rediscover some consistency this season.

Fifth place went to Joan Mir, who looked capable of more in the early phases of the race. For a fifth place to be disappointing in a rookie Moto2 season, you have to be quite a talent. Furthermore, thanks to Alex Marquez’s DNF at the hands of Augusto Fernandez (for which the latter apologised and the former accepted), Mir is now ahead of his more experienced teammate in the championship by one point, and only five points of Brad Binder who currently sits third in the standings.

Lorenzo Baldassarri recovered from a poor qualifying to finish in sixth place, although he had quite a quiet race in the end, coming home 2.5 seconds ahead of Fabio Quartararo in seventh. Brad Binder finished eighth ahead of Jorge Navarro who suffered a position drop penalty for track limits and Xavi Vierge who had not completed more than four laps consecutively before the race due to his injury from Austria but impressively managed to take the final top ten spot.

Eleventh place went to Simone Corsi, ahead of Remy Gardner, Dominique Aegerter, Andrea Locatelli and Jesko Raffin who took the final point on his Grand Prix return (replacing Alejandro Medina, who was replacing Isaac Vinales in the Stop And Go team).

Joe Roberts took sixteenth place for NTS after it was announced earlier in the weekend that he would be joining the Swiss Innovative Investors KTM squad to replace Sam Lowes next year. Seven tenths further back was the second NTS chassis of Steven Odendaal, who was one tenth ahead of Alex Marquez (he got back on after the crash with Fernandez), who in turn was 0.9 ahead of Iker Lecuona. Bo Bendsneyder completed the top twenty.

Twenty-first across the line was Niki Tuuli, from Khairul Idham Pawi, Jules Danilo, Federico Fuligni and Xavi Cardelus.

Danny Kent was the first retirement on lap two, before Luca Marini stopped for a bike problem eight laps later. Sam Lowes crashed trying to pass Remy Gardner 14 laps from the flag, and Sheridan Morais went down two laps later. Two laps still further Tetsuta Nagashima bowed out, before the drama really started.

With eight laps to go, Stefano Manzi tried to pass Romano Fenati who ran wide on the entry to turn fourteen. The pair came together, and Fenati gestured his anger towards Manzi. Manzi then passed Fenati again in turn four on the next lap in a strange exchange, where Fenati appeared to let Manzi through, but the Forward Racing rider ran clean off the track and took the Marinelli Snipers Team rider with him. Fenati then got the red mist, and on the straight between turns six and eight, grabbed Manzi’s front brake with twenty bar of pressure (Misano’s average pressure is nine bar). Manzi then crashed at turn eight, Fenati turning to him to once more express his displeasure. That was Manzi out of his home Grand Prix, and Fenati soon followed as the FIM Race Stewards Panel decided to disqualify him.

Augusto Fernandez was the final retirement, four laps from the flag, as he pulled into pit lane following his crash with Marquez much earlier on.

The 2017 Gran Premio di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini was a complete washout, all three classes racing in torrential conditions, which the racetrack itself did a decent enough job of coping with. The Moto2 race was especially sketchy, though, with only eleven riders finishing on the lead lap, and only sixteen riders seeing the chequered flag at all.

It seemed last year that the Moto2 class had the perfect concoction of perhaps the worst track conditions of the day, tyres which were wide enough to have some aquaplaning where the water was deep enough, and also have less grip than a Michelin wet, for example, which the premier class enjoyed.

Perhaps, then, it was no surprise that there were so few finishers, especially as the Misano circuit is somewhat famed for its poor wet weather grip – remember back to 2014 when there were over sixty crashes on Friday alone across all three classes. It was perhaps also not a surprise to see that Tom Luthi and Dominique Aegerter, two wet weather specialists (though not at all limited to that), were the two fighting for the win. It was Aegerter who won out on track, but a retrospective disqualification for a breach of technical regulations handed the win to Luthi. Hafiz Syahrin joined the two Swiss riders on the podium, although it was Francesco Bagnaia who inherited third place after the results were finalised with Aegerter’s DSQ.

A result along the same lines would not go amiss this weekend for Bagnaia, who comes into his second home race of the season as the Moto2 World Championship leader, and in search of a first triumph at a home Grand Prix. After the demise of the British GP two weeks ago, Bagnaia remains the most recent winner in the class, that victory coming in Austria one month ago in an epic battle with championship rival Miguel Oliveira.

Despite that, Oliveira is perhaps the favourite for this weekend, the slippery San Marinese asphalt in theory offering a good opportunity for the Portuguese and his KTM chassis. There have still only been two wins for the #44 so far this season, coming in Mugello and Brno. As the championship heads towards the business end of the season, Oliveira needs to find some pace and some consistency with it. He is there points-wise, but right now it seems that Bagnaia and Kalex have the advantage in outright performance – especially in qualifying, 23rd in Silverstone for Oliveira being the latest in a stream of poor qualifying results. Still, that said, the opportunity is there for Miguel this weekend, it’s just down to him to take it.

With Silverstone being cancelled, it is still three podiums in the last three races for Luca Marini, who suffered a bit more in Britain, but will nonetheless arrive in Misano full of confidence, particularly as this is a circuit he knows so well with it being a regular destination of the VR46 Riders Academy. Unfortunately for Marini, his San Marino Grand Prix lasted only fifteen corners last season, as he crashed out two corners from the end of the first lap. He will be hoping for something different this weekend and, wet or dry, the expectation is to see the number 10 fighting for the victory.

Mattia Pasini was another crasher last year, as he fell down at Rio – turn four – along with Lorenzo Baldassarri on lap three. It was especially a shame for Pasini, who had been in good form to that point of the season, and was looking for a second home GP win of the season whilst sporting a Marco Simoncelli replica helmet design. After the heartbreak of the Italian Grand Prix earlier in the season, where he fell on lap six, a crash which spawned a long baron patch for the number 54, he will be aiming to return to the podium this weekend, which would be just his second of the season after his Argentinian triumph.

As for Baldassarri, a drop in form since Mugello has been significant in his season. Since the Italian Grand Prix at the beginning of June, Baldassarri has gone: 7-DNF-DNF-4-DNF. It is this inconsistency that has cost him a shot at the title, because he has the speed. Typically, when Baldassarri makes it to the flag he finds that he can fight for the podium, or even the win, regardless of his qualifying. However, as in previous seasons, he has been held back by his affinity for gravel rash, which he must shake if he is to end the season strongly and enter 2019 in a good way. With that said, though, Baldassarri did take his first GP win in Misano, back in 2016 when he fought with Alex Rins until the final lap and finally came out on top. This and his pure speed make it impossible to discount Baldassarri for this weekend, but he needs to keep the tyres in contact with the racetrack, and that might be his biggest challenge.

News since Silverstone has confirmed that Sam Lowes will be rekindling his relationship with Gresini Racing in 2019, a team in which he enjoyed a love that was very much requited. Of course he missed out on what seemed like a golden opportunity to take a first Silverstone win and more importantly a debut home Grand Prix win two weeks ago, but with the weight of his future lifted from his shoulders, Lowes could be a force to be reckoned with in Misano. However, it has never been a kind circuit for Lowes in Grand Prix racing, with crashes in the last three seasons and a mechanically-induced 18th place back in 2014.

The track also harbours difficult memories for Fabio Quartararo, who broke his ankle at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli back in 2015. In many ways it was that injury that derailed his career for the next two seasons. However, a couple of good races this season have indeed been enough for him to get the second ride in the SIC Petronas Yamaha team for next year. Like Lowes, he will be hoping that his future’s security will allow him to ride more freely and compete for the podium once again.

Like both Lowes and Quartararo, Romano Fenati has had his 2019 berth confirmed. It happened during the delays in Silverstone, which was quite smart by the management of the Forward Racing Team, which Fenati is joining for next season to pilot one of their MV Agusta chassis’. For the remainder of the season, though, and especially this weekend, Fenati will be hoping to finally turn his usually impressive free practice form into a strong race performance for the Marinelli Snipers team, and as the Moto3 winner from last year, there is potential for a great weekend for the #13.

Following on from his win in that stunning Austrian Moto2 battle with Miguel Oliveira, Francesco Bagnaia took pole position in Silverstone for the 2018 British Grand Prix. It was a complicated session, as were all the qualifying sessions today, with the track starting off dry for the majority of the lap, but very wet in the far end of the circuit, between Stowe and Club (turn 7 to 10). Throughout the session, the track was getting drier, and Bagnaia timed his final lap perfectly to be almost the last rider over the line, meaning he enjoyed almost perfect track conditions, relatively speaking.

Bagnaia stole pole in the final moments, after the flag had dropped, and he stole it from Remy Gardner. The Australian got lost on his way to the track earlier in the week, with dad – and 1987 500cc World Champion – Wayne having to go and find the Tech 3 rider. Despite missing out on pole position in the end, it was still a career-best qualifying position for Remy, whose previous record was ninth. Both the Mistral 610 chassis and Gardner have shown themselves to be capable in wet conditions, and with a typically British aquatic onslaught scheduled to batter the Northamptonshire circuit all day long tomorrow, such skills could prove vital for the #87, and he will be aiming for his first World Championship podium, especially if it does rain.

Alex Marquez was third fastest today, and looked for a period as though he would take pole position, such was the scrolling nature of the times in the end of the session. Two straight DNFs mean that points are essential for Marquez tomorrow, and of course a strong ride would do a lot for his undoubtedly damaged confidence.

Marcel Schrotter will start his 105th Moto2 race from fourth place tomorrow, as he continues his search for a first Moto2 podium.

On the contrary, Luca Marini is coming off the back of three consecutive podiums, as he starts from 5th on the grid, and is another rider who could relish the adverse conditions.

Petronas Yamaha-bound Fabio Quartararo will complete the second row tomorrow, and he will be hoping for dry conditions tomorrow, because on the slick tyres he has been very fast, and very consistent all weekend.

Mattia Pasini was on for pole position in the final stages of qualifying, but caught Iker Lecuona in sector three of his final lap, and so was consigned to just seventh place, with the aforementioned Lecuona and home hero Sam Lowes (another who looked a possible pole-setter) joining him on the third row.

It has been a strong weekend for Romano Fenati, and for the most part he has been the top rookie – he will line up tenth tomorrow. The injured Xavi Vierge as well as Lorenzo Baldassarri will join Fenati on row four.

Thirteenth on the gird tomorrow belongs to Andrea Locatelli, whilst Joan Mir could only manage fourteenth. It’s slightly fortunate that Mir got his Suzuki deal done when he did, because since then, his form has dipped bar that podium in Germany. Augusto Fernandez completes the 5th row.

Red Bull KTM’s Brad Binder could only do as well as 16th fastest, and will be alongside Domi Aegerter and Bo Bendsneyder on the sixth row; whilst row seven holds Niki Tuuli, Joe Roberts and Tetsuta Nagashima, complete with his new ‘surfer doggo’ seat sticker, as a nod to the famous shot of him surfing his Honda Team Asia Kalex two weeks ago in the wet practice in Austria.

Jorge Navarro will be disappointed with his 22nd grid slot because he has looked quite strong this weekend. However, Miguel Oliveira will be even more disappointed, as he made yet another poor qualifying position, and whilst championship leader Bagnaia starts from pole, Oliveira only qualified 23rd. Stefano Manzi completes the eighth row.

Steven Odendaal on the second NTS chassis was 25th fastest, with Danny Kent and SIC-Petronas Moto2-bound Khairul Idham Pawi joining him on row nine; whilst wildcard Josh Owens impressively took 28th spot (only 2.880 seconds off pole), joining Jules Danilo and Federico Fuligni on the 10th row.

Alejandro Medina heads up row eleven, from Simone Corsi – whose qualifying was hampered by a crash – and Xavi Cardelus who is 33rd and last.