Who will win the number 2 desert thriller in Qatar?
The clearest favorites are Jaume Masia in Moto3 and Sam Lowes in the middle class. While the Englishman has it in his hands to drive away from the front like in the first GP of the year, this should be an impossibility for the young Spaniard. The International Circuit of Losail is not a track on which a driver in the junior class can simply pull away. At least not under normal circumstances. See our review of the first Moto3 Grand Prix in Qatar. If you look at the roller coaster ride the three pilots on the podium went through in terms of their positions, you can understand what is meant by that. It looks similar to Masia for other reasons for the MotoGP winner of the season opener. In MotoGP, too, 8 or 10 opponents are likely to pose a threat to Viñales. The nice thing about it is that it guarantees pure excitement.
Warm-Up
In the Moto3 warm-up, Izan Guevara fell shortly after the last 15 minutes. The 16-year-old Mallorcan lay there and was later admitted to the medical center. Its start in the evening is rather questionable. Fabio Quartararo summed up the main problem of the warm-up in Losail on Thursday evening in the press conference. Due to the completely different conditions in the afternoon heat, it is impossible to test ideas for setup adjustments for their suitability in the evening. The temperature differences between FP1 and FP2 or FP3 and qualifying proved this impressively. Therefore, like some of his colleagues, Johann Zarco did not even drive the FP3 in a lot of wind and sand. The Moto3 warm-up has just ended and the middle class will soon be attending their 20-minute warm-up.
Moto2 with warm-up crash of Sam Lowes
While the MotoGP engines are already warming up, the Moto2 riders are in half of their 20-minute warm-up. As in Moto3, we do not mention the times driven, because these are completely irrelevant in the changed conditions in the evening. In the last 3 minutes, pole setter Sam Lowes crashed at Turn 9, but it was a rather harmless slip. Shortly before that, Cameron Beaubier was barely able to prevent a high-sider. The middle class warm-up is now over and the premier class will be on the track shortly.
MotoGP warm-up
Now the class is on the track after which the motorcycle world championship was renamed since 2002. The conditions are much better than yesterday with too much wind and a lot of sand in the air and on the asphalt. With 7 minutes left on the clock, the 3 Yamahas are currently the fastest. Quartararo before Vinales, Morbido, Martin and Mir are the top names on the monitor. For the race, however, as well as the times of no importance. The fact that Valentino Rossi is the most successful driver in Losail and only drove the 16th best lap 3 minutes before the end is not his main problem. More like the start from the penultimate position, which means that the old master should have almost no chance of just finishing in the top ten in the evening. The warm-up is over and shortly before the end the man who was the least on the track with only 5 laps, set the afternoon’s fastest time. With Johann Zarco in top form, the man in the lead is exactly who we had counted among the favorites in winter. On the first weekend, it was not the first time that he was the best Ducati rider with second place.
The Moto3 race starts
A total of 7 drivers have to start from the pit lane after the completely chaotic course and the many offenses in qualifying. After the start, all drivers (except for the 7 punished sinners) are together and initially Antonelli took the lead in front of Alcoba. Xavier Artigas started his first of 2 long lap penalties, and it is impossible to list the leaders and positions continuously because there are constant changes of position. Especially on the long straight, the previous order gets completely mixed up again. The group of those who drove out of the pit lane is a good 7 seconds behind when there are still 15 laps to go. While the Swiss Dupasquier is represented in the top group, it looks like 3 drivers have easily lost touch. Including Artigas and Izdihar who were punished with a long lap penalty. It is fought with the knife between the teeth and sometimes 3 drivers drive side by side through the curves.
The second half of the race – after 9 of 18 laps
Meanwhile, the “sinners group” with Fenati and colleagues is only 3 seconds behind Max Kofler, who has obviously lost touch with the top group. The Austrian fights as best he can to get closer again in order to benefit from the slipstream of the ancestors on the long straight. With eight laps to go, it is almost clear that Kofler should be overtaken by at least 4 pursuers. He is a little over half a second behind the leading group in P19. There are still 7 laps to go and now Fenati is the first of the chasing group to pass the Austrian and take the lead. Shortly afterwards, Xavi Artigas falls. The last third of the race has rung in and Filip Salac has just crashed, as for Artigas, the race is over for the Czech. McPhee falls again innocently and loses his nerve after he was cleared before the 1st corner. He kicks Alcoba on the shin and is beside himself, for which the Scot can expect a hefty penalty as an aftermath. Adrian Fernandez also retired with a fall. Below is the ranking after the 2nd Moto3 GP of the year.
The 16-year-old “criminal” Acosta wins ahead of Binder and Antonelli
It was the start from the pit lane after which even the new world championship leader thought at first that there was no chance of going into the race. But maybe this spurred him on with the other 6 punished drivers and in the end the rookie won his first Moto3 race for the KTM Ajo team. Jason Dupasquier was a good eleventh and Max Kofler saved 2 points with P14 thanks to the failures shortly before the end.
World Championship stand in Moto3 after 2 laps
The Moto2 race – second victory in a row for Sam Lowes!
Initially, Bezzecchi leads before Lowes, Fernandez and Gardner. Dixon lost 5 places and is on P10, Marcel Schrötter is 14th and Tom Lüthi is only in 24th. After 3 laps, the pole setter and World Championship leader, Lowes, is in the lead. It looks again as if the Englishman could pull away, while behind Bezzecchi Gardner and his team-mate Fernandez are at odds. It is now Remy Gardner again, who, together with Fernandez, passed Bezzecchi and took up the pursuit of Lowes. Joe Roberts just fell 14 laps to go. Turn 14 was fatal for the American. His compatriot Cameron Beaubier also left the race a little later with a crash. MV Agusta replacement Marcon has just retired with a mechanical problem who replaced the injured Simone Corsi.
Half time with 10 of 20 rounds
At halftime, Marco Bezzecchi, who was on P4, fought like a lion in order not to lose touch with the three drivers in front of him. In the meantime, Joe Roberts also explained his crash, which he said he could not prevent due to a gust of wind. The US boy is very disappointed because he was sure he had the package so that he could go up front. In the eighth last lap, Tom Lüthi also fell, the 34-year-old was only on P22. Only a little later, his former teammate Marcel Schrötter, who fell together with Jake Dixon, was caught. In the meantime, Bezzecchi has lost a good one and a half seconds to the top despite all his efforts. With five laps to go, the race is over for Aron Canet after a crash, while the battle for victory is still open. The lead of the 3 leaders with Sam Lowes is more than 13 seconds ahead of Remy Gardner and Raul Fernandez, except for Bezzecchi, of course.
The finale – Lowes gives everything and creates the double Victory
In the penultimate lap, the Englishman gives everything and is now trying to pull away from the two Red Bull Ajo drivers behind him. It looks like Fernandez can no longer keep up, but the Australian is doing his best to stay with the leader. Lowes starts the last lap cleverly and can leave Gardner behind, making the one-two for the Englishman perfect. Below is the ranking list.
World Championship stand Moto2 after 2 laps
The MotoGP race is in progress
As Mike Leitner revealed before the start, KTM is trying medium tires, which many observers consider to be very risky. As the bumpy-sounding Austrian remarked, it is only after the race that you know whether it was really smart. In the meantime, the oranges seem quite unsettled, which also explains the risky choice of their tires. Pole setter Martin won the start ahead of Zarco, Oliveira, Aleix Espargaró and the two Suzukis. Joan Mir made a mistake shortly afterwards that almost brought down Quartararo, who was behind him, and Vinales is only in 11th place after 2 laps. Aleix passed Zarco briefly, but the Frenchman immediately grabbed the Spaniard again, whom Rins also passed a little later. The two fighting cocks continue to argue about P2, while Jorge Martin is still in the lead in front of them.
While Vinales moved up to P10 again, Rins, Zarco, Aleix, Mir, Oliveira, Bagnaia, Quartararo and Miller are now behind Martin. After 7 laps, Zarco is back on P2, who passed Rins on the start-finish straight one lap before and Vinales overtook Oliveira. One lap later, Rins is again second, who overtook Zarco at Turn 10. Bagnaia passed Mir and will soon attack fourth-placed Aleix. Shortly before half-time, Rossi is only in 20th place and Bradl’s desire for a top ten result looks very much at risk at P15. Aleix Espargaró lost 3 places in the curvy second part of the route and now Bagnaia and Miller are chasing the Rins in front of Mir. Martin is still leading in front of Zarco and Rins, behind Miller is touched by the hard attacking Mir and then shows him the bird as he drives past the start-finish.
The second half of the Race
Shortly before the middle of the race, Alex Marquez crashed for the second time in a row in the second Qatar GP. Rins meanwhile lost 3rd place to Bagnaia and Quartararo also passed the Spaniard. Vinales, on the other hand, is currently only on P8 in front of Mir. Quartararo grabbed Bagnaia, who then goes wide at the end of the long straight and thus falls back to P7. Quartararo passed Zarco and shortly afterwards also led Martin to the top. But at the end of the straight he can pass the French again. However, the Yamaha rider grabs the Spaniard again shortly afterwards. There are still 3 laps to drive. Quartararo is now leading the two Ducatis from Martin and Zarco, while Vinales received a track warning.
Showdown and last 2 laps
Quartararo was able to pull out a slight lead of 0.7 seconds when it comes to the last lap. It will be a French double victory for Fabio Quartararo ahead of Johann Zarco and Jorge Martin. As a result, the man from Cannes, as a two-time runner-up, was not only the best Ducati rider on both occasions, but also the world championship leader before moving on to Portugal. Brad Binder takes the first top ten place for KTM, while Miller again only lands on P9 behind the South African. Below the ranking of the second race of the season in Qatar.
World Championship stand after 2 rounds – Zarco World Championship leader
This is closed now..
The route map of Losail & schedule for the second weekend in Qatar
Unless otherwise mentioned, applies to all images (© MotoGP).
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