Category: Moto2

The final qualifying session of the 2019 Moto2 World Championship saw cold conditions temper performances.

In Q1, Marcel Schrotter (Dynavolt Intact GP) topped the session from a surprising and impressive Jake Dixon (Inde Angel Nieto Team), who went through to Q2 for the first time in dry conditions in his final race with the Aspar outfit; Enea Bastianini (Italtrans Racing Team) and Nicolo Bulega (SKY Racing Team VR46) who crashed towards the end of Q1 which complicated things for him with respect to Q2.

In Q2, it was Jorge Navarro (MB Conveyors Speed Up) who took the final pole position of the year. It was against the odds, such was the dominance of Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) over the course of the weekend, but a late lap from Navarro in the final couple of minutes was enough for P1 for the #9. Joining Navarro on the front row for the final race of the year will be Jorge Martin (Red Bull KTM Ajo) and the outstanding intermediate class rider of the weekend, Stefano Manzi (MV Agusta Temporary Forward) who gives MV its first front row since the 1970s, himself his first front row of his GP career and the Forward team its first visit to parc ferme since 2016 when Lorenzo Baldassarri won in Misano.

Luca Marini (SKY Racing Team VR46) starts from fourth place  having come from almost nowhere in the middle of the session to trouble the top positions. Joining Marini on row two will be Tom Luthi (Dynavolt Intact GP) and Fabio Di Giannantonio (MB Conveyors Speed Up) who held provisional pole for a while although a crash just after setting his fastest time meant he could not hold on.

Brad Binder was quite disappointing in seventh, and will be joined on row three by Augusto Fernandez (Flexbox HP 40) and Enea Bastianini (Italtrans Racing Team); while row four sees Sam Lowes (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2) ahead of Xavi Vierge (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) and Mattia Pasini (Tasca Racing Scuderia Moto2) who enjoyed his best performance in a while.

Andrea Locatelli (Italtrans Racing Team) will start from the front of the fifth row in thirteenth place in his final GP, ahead of Remy Gardner (ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team) and the ill newly crowned World Champion Alex Marquez (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) who will start fifteenth; while Marcel Schrotter starts from sixteenth ahead of fellow Q1 graduates Jake Dixon and Nicolo Bulega, the Italian only managing five laps in Q2 after his Q1 crash.

Dominique Aegerter (MV Agusta Temporary Forward) was the fastest rider to miss Q2 and will start from nineteenth with Marco Bezzecchi (Red Bull KTM Tech 3) and Tetsuta Nagashima (ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team) joining the Swiss on row seven; while Bo Bendsneyder (NTS RW Racing GP) heads up the eighth row from Somkiat Chantra (IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia) and Lorenzo Baldassarri (Flexbox Hp 40) who continues his poor qualifying form.

The ninth row sees Dimas Ekky (IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia) start ahead of Philipp Oettl (Red Bull KTM Tech 3) in his final GP, before moving to World Supersport, and Iker Lecuona’s replacement at the American Racing team, Sean Kelly who did not disgrace himself on his GP debut. Tomasso Marcon, in for Jesko Raffin at NTS RW Racing GP this weekend as the Swiss is racing in MotoE, will start his first Grand Prix from twenty-eighth, ahead of Adam Norrodin (Petronas Sprinta Racing) and Xavi Cardelus (Inde Angel Nieto Team) who join the Italian on row ten; while the back row is only two-thirds full, with Lukas Tulovic making his and Kiefer Racing’s final GP from thirty-first ahead of last-placed Joe Roberts (American Racing) who did not set a representative lap time.

By the time the Moto2 riders got out on track for their thirteenth qualifying of the 2019 World Championship, the surface in Misano was positively cooked, and conditions were therefore difficult – making the most of the MotoGP rubber early on would be key to a good starting position.

Q1 saw Luca Marini (SKY Racing Team VR46) top the session with his final flying lap from compatriot Marco Bezzecchi (Red Bull KTM Tech 3), Iker Lecuona (American Racing) and Jorge Martin (Red Bull KTM Ajo), all of whom moved through with Marini to Q2.

The Q2 session saw Fabio Di Giannantonio (+Ego Speed Up) score his first Moto2 World Championship pole position in his second home race of the season – although, the #21 is a Roman. Di Giannantonio’s rookie season in the intermediate class has been a strong one, and this pole position is one which he has earned throughout the year. Lining up alongside the Italian will be championship leader Alex Marquez (EG 0,0 Marc VDS), with whom Di Giannantonio fought a cold war in Brno, and Silverstone winner Augusto Fernandez (Flexbox HP 40) who recovered well from a crash in FP3 and set himself up well to go back-to-back for the first time in his career in tomorrow’s race.

The ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team duo of Remy Gardner and Tetsuta Nagashima head up the second row, and are joined Xavi Vierge (EG 0,0 Marc VDS); while Tom Luthi (Dynavolt Intact GP) heads up row three from Sam Lowes (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2) on the Briton’s birthday and Marco Bezzecchi (Red Bull KTM Tech 3) who had by far his best qualifying performance of the season with ninth place.

The top ten is rounded out by the returning Enea Bastianini, as he lines up at the front of row four ahead of Italtrans Racing Team teammate Andrea Locatelli and fellow compatriot Luca Marini (SKY Racing Team VR46) who ensures that the fourth row is an all-Italian affair. Nicolo Bulega (SKY Racing Team VR46) qualified thirteenth ahead of Lorenzo Baldassarri (Flexbox HP 40) and Jorge Navarro (+Ego Speed Up) who will be disappointed to see his teammate on pole from the vantage point of fifteenth.

The Red Bull KTM Ajo pairing of Brad Binder and Jorge Martin head up row six from Iker Lecuona, meaning KTM have a sixth-row lockout.

Somkiat Chantra (IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia) was the fastest rider to miss out on Q2, qualifying nineteenth. The Thai rider will be joined on the seventh row by the MV Agusta Idealavoro Forward pairing of Stefano Manzi and Dominique Aegerter who were twentieth and twenty-first respectively.

Row eight will see Simone Corsi (NTS RW Racing GP) from twenty-second as he replaces Steven Odendaal on the NTS, something he will continue to do for the remainder of the season. Corsi will be joined by NTS RW Racing GP teammate Bo Bendsneyder and Joe Roberts (American Racing) on the eighth row, whilst Jake Dixon (Sama Qatar Angel Nieto Team) heads up row nine from Philipp Oettl (Red Bull KTM Tech 3) and Lukas Tulovic (Kiefer Racing). On the back row, Xavi Cardelus (Sama Qatar Angel Nieto Team) will start ahead of the two replacement riders, Adam Norrodin (in place of Khairul Idham Pawi at Petronas Sprinta Racing) and Andi Izdihar (in place of Dimas Ekky at IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia).

Marcel Schrotter (Dynavolt Intact GP) suffered a broken clavicle in practice, and will miss the remainder of the weekend as a result, and most likely next weekend’s Aragon GP as well.

Round twelve of the 2019 Moto2 World Championship took place in Silverstone, as Augusto Fernandez (Flexbox HP 40) took his second career GP win.

Alex Marquez (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) made the holeshot from pole position, with Jorge Navarro (Campetella Speed Up) in tow. The Spanish pair were significantly faster in the early stages of the race, pulling away by almost two seconds.

Things changed, though, when Marquez crashed on lap six, leaving Navarro alone at the front. Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo), behind, started to reel in the Speed Up rider, bringing Augusto Fernandez with him. Seven laps after Marquez crashed and Binder took second from Remy Gardner (ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team), the South African hit the front.

Binder held the lead for three laps, before Navarro was able to respond. Having had some time to regroup, Navarro was able to pull a small gap for himself when he returned to the front, but Fernandez’ pace on the penultimate lap when he passed Binder put him in position to pass his compatriot for the lead on the final lap.

Fernandez made his move in the second part of the Vale chicane, a strange move and certainly an unexpected one on the part of Navarro, who was unable to respond before the finish.

The race was a tyre management exercise, and Fernandez was the best at it. Normally, Speed Up look after the tyres well, but despite Fernandez’ aggressive style and slightly harsher Kalex frame, he was able to find more grip in the final stages than his rivals, and his second Grand Prix win arrived as a result.

Jorge Navarro has had few better chances to win a Moto2 race, but he was unable to take this one. It seemed that Marquez’ crash unsettled the #9, and perhaps the reasonably significant lead that he inherited as a result played on his mind. Either way, it was a decent result to end a strong weekend from the Spaniard, who moved to joint-second in the championship on points, along with Fernandez and Tom Luthi (Dynavolt Intact GP) – the three of them thirty-five points behind Marquez.

Third place for Brad Binder was extremely impressive. He failed to make Q2 directly on Saturday and was clearly riding at the very limit of the bike for the whole race. When Remy Gardner passed him on the penultimate lap, there was a good response from Binder. The South African made his move on Gardner for third as Navarro tried to make his move for the lead on Fernandez, in Brooklands, but while Navarro was unable to make his move stick, Binder was able to pull the KTM down to the apex and prevent a counter-attack from Gardner. It was a well-deserved rostrum for the 2016 Moto3 champion.

Whilst Gardner missed out on the podium, the British GP represented a return to form for the Australian who went slightly off the boil after Jerez, where he was involved in the turn one crash, and the rear tyre changed. Tetsuta Nagashima made sure of a double ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team top five in Silverstone with fifth.

Sixth place went to Fabio Di Giannantonio (Campetella Speed Up), who was ahead of Lorenzo Baldassarri (Flexbox HP 40) after the Italian came from eighteenth on the grid. Eighth was Tom Luthi, who will have been disappointed to fail to make significant in-roads into Marquez’ championship lead, instead slipping into a battle for second with Fernandez and Navarro. Luca Marini (SKY Racing Team VR46) finished ninth ahead of Xavi Vierge (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) who completed the top ten.

Iker Lecuona (American Racing) was eleventh ahead of fellow KTM rider Jorge Martin (Red Bull KTM Ajo), Mattia Pasini (Tasca Racing Scuderia Moto2), Marcel Schrotter (Dynavolt Intact GP) and Andrea Locatelli (Italtrans Racing Team) who took the final point.

Somkiat Chantra (IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia) was sixteenth, ahead of Stefano Manzi (MV Agusta Idealavoro Forward), Dominique Aegerter (MV Agusta Idealavoro Forward), Marco Bezzecchi (Red Bull KTM Tech 3) and Nicolo Bulega (SKY Racing Team VR46) who completed the top twenty.

Twenty-first went to Bo Bendsneyder (NTS RW Racing GP) who was ahead of Joe Roberts (American Racing), Jake Dixon (Sama Qatar Angel Nieto Team), Philipp Oettl (Red Bull KTM Tech 3), Steven Odendaal (NTS RW Racing GP), Lukas Tulovic (Kiefer Racing), Xavi Cardelus (Sama Qatar Angel Nieto Team) and Teppei Nagoe (IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia) who finished last in his third race replacing Dimas Ekky.

After Marquez dropped out, Bradley Smith’s replacement ride for Khairul Idham Pawi at Petronas Sprinta Racing was the next to come to an early end, before Sam Lowes (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2) crashed out on the final lap.

The Red Bull Ring in Austria played host to the eleventh round of the 2019 Moto2 World Championship, as Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) took his first win of the season.

Sunday began with Pit Beirer announcing that KTM would be pulling out of Moto2 at the end of 2019 to focus efforts on their MotoGP RC16 project.

As a response, Binder made the holeshot from the middle of the front row, and immediately began to escape with pole sitter Tetsuta Nagashima (ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team) and Xavi Vierge (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) in tow. Soon, though, Binder was alone out front, as a mistake from Vierge in braking for turn four saw him hit the back of Nagashima, taking them both out of the race.

That left Remy Gardner (ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team) to chase Binder, just over one second up the road from the Australian. Behind Gardner was a big group, back to the fringes of the top ten and the fighting within it was tense.
Gardner, though, along with Enea Bastianini (Italtrans Racing Team) were able to escape from the pack and chase after Binder. Despite his poor qualifying, Alex Marquez (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) was also able to join the fray.

The front group was reduced once more, this time to three, as Gardner made a mistake passing Binder. The #87 ran wide in turn one and, whilst Bastianini was able to pass him cleanly, Marquez clipped the front wheel of the Australian’s Kalex on the way through, taking Gardner out of the race. Marquez did nothing wrong, but that did not stop the gesticulations from his rival, Gardner throwing hands at the Spaniard as he sat in the middle of the track with twenty bikes heading straight for him.

The trio at the front soon became a quartet, with Luca Marini (SKY Racing Team VR46) joining the fun, but it didn’t last long. Marini’s best part of the track was through turn eight, where he would get a better drive than his rivals, and he could pass in turn nine. This is what he did to Alex Marquez with four laps to go, but when he tried the same move on Enea Bastianini one lap later, he lost the front and took them both out, Bastianini having to be carried away on a stretcher.

That left Marquez as Binder’s only challenger, but he was unable to close the gap and make a move on the South African, who took his first win of the season, and KTM’s first Moto2 win since Miguel Oliveira won in Valencia last season. It was, then, a good day for KTM in the Moto2 category, but perhaps there is some irony that they final win the intermediate class race at their home GP on the day they announce they don’t want to compete in the class anymore.

Alex Marquez’ second place was his first trip to the podium in any position other than first since he was third in Argentina. Although not a win, second place was important for the championship leader, whose points advantage extended to forty-three points as he proved that even from a bad qualifying and in a difficult weekend, or one where the field is closely matched, he still has the ability to churn out a good result.

The chaos in the final laps with Gardner, Bastianini and Marini all dropping out meant that Jorge Navarro (Beta Tools Speed Up) was able to take the final podium position, as he took to the rostrum for the first time since he was third in Barcelona.

Fourth place went to Lorenzo Baldassarri (Flexbox HP 40), which can be considered a good result for the tall Italian at a track where his size will be of a disadvantage. Augusto Fernandez (Flexbox HP 40) recovered from his thirteenth-place qualifying to round out the top five.

Tom Luthi (Dynavolt Intact GP) was quite fast at the start, but as the race went on it became more difficult for the Swiss to be consistent, as he made numerous mistakes in the several hard-braking points at the Red Bull Ring. The #12 loses more points to Marquez with his sixth place, now forty-three behind ahead of Silverstone.

Jorge Martin (Red Bull KTM Ajo) took his best result of the season with seventh place ahead of Iker Lecuona (American Racing), Marcel Schrotter (Dynavolt Intact GP) and Mattia Pasini (Tasca Racing Scuderia Moto2) who completed the top ten.

Andrea Locatelli (Italtrans Racing Team) was eleventh ahead of rookie and front-row-starter Somkiat Chantra (IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia); whilst Nicolo Bulega (SKY Racing Team VR46) was thirteenth in front of Fabio Di Giannantonio (Beta Tools Speed Up) and Bo Bendsneyder (NTS RW Racing GP) who completed the points.

Stefano Manzi (MV Agusta Idealavoro Forward) was sixteenth, ahead of teammate Dominique Aegerter (MV Agusta Idealavoro Forward), Jonas Folger (Petronas Sprinta Racing), Jake Dixon (Sama Qatar Angel Nieto Team) and Steven Odendaal (NTS RW Racing GP) who completed the top twenty.
Twenty-first over the line was Joe Roberts (American Racing), ahead of Philipp Oettl (Red Bull KTM Tech 3) who beat his teammate Marco Bezzecchi (Red Bull KTM Tech 3). Sam Lowes (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2) was only twenty-fourth, ahead of Dimas Ekky’s replacement at IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia, Teppei Nagoe. Xavi Cardelus (Sama Qatar Angel Nieto Team) was twenty-sixth, whilst Lukas Tulovic (Kiefer Racing) was twenty-seventh and last.

All of the retirements were from the front group, with Vierge taking out Nagashima before apologising; Gardner having his front wheel taken away by Marquez and Marini cleaning out Bastianini before apologising.

After the MotoGP qualifying session, clouds hung over the Red Bull Ring, bringing the track temperature down for the Austrian Moto2 qualifying session at round eleven of the 2019 World Championship.

Q1 saw Iker Lecuona (American Racing) top the session despite traffic. Luca Marini (SKY Racing Team VR46), Andrea Locatelli (Italtrans Racing Team) and Brno runner-up Fabio Di Giannantonio (Beta Tools Speed Up) joined the #27 Spaniard in moving through to Q2.

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In Q2, Tetsuta Nagashima (ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team) took his first career pole and a Moto2 lap record for the Red Bull Ring. 2019 has been a strong season for the Japanese, and after a poor race for his #090 Honda team at the Suzuka 8 Hour last month before Brno, the #45 has rebounded well in the two GPs since then.

Joining Nagashima on the front row are Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo), running the old KTM frame, and rookie Somkiat Chantra (IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia), the 2016 Asia Talent Cup Champion qualifying third on his first visit to the Red Bull Ring. In all, it is a quite peculiar front row.

Row two sees Enea Bastianini (Italtrans Racing Team) ahead of Tom Luthi (Dynavolt Intact GP). Qualifying did not go so well for Alex Marquez (EG 0,0 Marc VDS), so a second row start could be important for Luthi who finished third behind Marquez in the 2017 Austrian GP. Lorenzo Baldassarri (Flexbox HP 40) looks to be back on the pace this weekend after a dismal race in Brno. The Italian qualified sixth.

Xavi Vierge (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) has plenty of question marks surrounding his future after a difficult ten races with Marc VDS, but a seventh-place in qualifying in Austria will help things. Jorge Navarro (Beta Tools Speed Up) and Remy Gardner (ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team) join the #97 on the third row.

Luca Marini has been quite consistent this weekend, but not able to make the difference with a new tyre in a time attack – the Italian finally qualified tenth ahead of Alex Marquez and Jorge Martin (Red Bull KTM Ajo), with the new KTM chassis, who will join him on row four.

Augusto Fernandez (Flexbox HP 40) heads up row five ahead of Iker Lecuona and Mattia Pasini (Tasca Racing Scuderia Moto2), the Italian’s fastest lap ensuring the first fourteen riders on the grid of tomorrow’s race are covered by just 0.400 seconds.

The sixth row is more detached from the fifth row than the fifth is detached from the first, almost, with Marcel Schrotter (Dynavolt Intact GP) – who crashed in Q2 – 0.319 seconds behind Pasini in sixteenth. One tenth further back of Schrotter is seventeenth-placed Andrea Locatelli, whilst Fabio Di Giannantonio was eighteenth, almost one second slower than Nagashima.

Nicolo Bulega (SKY Racing Team VR46) was the fastest rider to not make Q2, qualifying nineteenth. The MV Agusta Idealavoro Forward duo of Dominique Aegerter and Stefano Manzi join Bulega on row seven, qualifying in twentieth and twenty-first respectively.

Jonas Folger (Petronas Sprinta Racing) will go from the front of row eight as he replaces Khairul Idham Pawi again. Bo Bendsneyder (NTS RW Racing GP) and Sam Lowes (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2) will join the German on the eighth row; whilst Marco Bezzecchi (Red Bull KTM Tech 3) – who won in Austria in Moto3 last year – will start twenty-fifth ahead of Philipp Oettl (Red Bull KTM Tech 3) and Jake Dixon (Sama Qatar Angel Nieto Team).

Steven Odendaal (NTS RW Racing GP) qualified twenty-eighth on his first visit to the Red Bull Ring and will start ahead of Joe Roberts (American Racing) and Lukas Tulovic (Kiefer Racing).

Teppei Nagoe, replacing Dimas Ekky at IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia, will start from thirty-first, ahead of last-placed Xavi Cardelus (Sama Qatar Angel Nieto Team) on the back row of the grid.