Moto2 look back Losail 1

Sam Lowes in his own world

The twin brother of WorldSBK rider Alex from the Kawasaki factory team drove in a league of its own in the first race of the season on Sunday. The Englishman didn’t risk too much at the beginning and let Marco Bezzecchi, who was leading at the start, have their way. After two laps, however, he struck and immediately after taking the lead created a lead of almost half a second over his pursuers. From then on, the Elf Marc VDS Racing Team driver managed his lead confidently and we noted early on in our live blog that Lowes can only beat himself. The 30-year-old from Lincoln, who has often been decried as a crash pilot in recent years, made no mistakes and confidently drove his first win of the season home.

Triumph number 7 for the third place in the World Cup last year
It was only the seventh Grand Prix victory of the former Supersport rider who had been in Moto2 for the eighth year. After two years in the British Supersport Championship in 2009 and a national championship title in 2010, three WorldSSP 600 years followed. Crowned as world champion of the 2013 season, he then switched to Moto2. In the middle Grand Prix class he immediately finished 6th at the season opener in Losail. In 18 races he took 8 top ten positions and was 13th in the 2014 World Championship. The following year he won his first victory and was already fourth in the World Championship. A season later he triumphed twice for the Gresini Racing Team and took 5th place in the World Championship. A MotoGP season at Aprilia followed, which was unsuccessful with only 5 points. Back in Moto2, two difficult years followed, until he finally matured into a candidate for the title at Marc VDS in the first Corona year. This time a lot of fans and drivers are hoping that the first world championship will finally work out.

Gardner in his father’s footsteps and Di Giannantonio with a strong finale

Wayne Gardner last won a podium in a race at the start of the season 31 years ago. Before that, the Australian had already succeeded four times and now it was his son Remy’s turn. He has matured into a top rider in recent years and is clearly one of the favorites in the fight for the Moto2 title for 2021. The long-term goal for the son of the 500 cc world champion from 1987 has long been clear. If possible, Remy wants to become Moto2 World Champion and then move up to MotoGP at KTM. From a current point of view, actually not a good idea, as the works riders were even beaten by Ducati rookie Enea Bastianini. For his first sub-goal everything fits at least with 2nd place and like third-placed Fabio Di Giannantonio he is one of the favorites in the fight for the Moto2 title. The latter showed a very strong final and defeated Sky Racing VR46 driver Marco Bezzecchi. At the award ceremony it got very emotional for the Gresini Racing Team when he raised the trophy in the memory of the recently deceased team boss and former Grand Prix driver Fausto.

The other strong drivers at the season opener

Rookie Raul Fernandez (Red Bull Ajo Kalex) had to be expected and the young Spaniard fully met the expectations of the team and the public. In the meantime even lying on P3 it was 5th place in the end. Joe Roberts and Jake Dixon who finished behind him had definitely hoped for more than P6 and P7. But the two of them scored important points and they can build on that. Marcel Schrötter wasn’t really happy with 8th place either. As a pole setter from 2019 and a guest on the podium at the time, the Bavarian crossed the finish line a little over 10 seconds behind winner Lowes. For him, as for Bo Bendsneyder with P9, as well as Roberts and Dixon, there is a new opportunity on the second weekend that needs to be seized. The Dutchman was in row one for the first time and therefore could not agree with his placement. Not so, Cameron Beaubier, who finished eleventh behind Jorge Navarro and showed a solid performance as a rookie on the new track for him. It will be interesting to see whether the US boy will be able to improve even further in the second GP in Qatar.

The disappointments of the first Losail Grand Prix race

If a Tom Lüthi sounds almost satisfied with 15th place, we consider this to be alarming. Even before the start, the Swiss did not give us the impression of a fighter who absolutely wants to get far ahead. At least he confirmed our fears with his poor performance. Two years ago he drove the best race lap, which was not topped in 2021. The first crashed driver was with the number 7 on the MV Agusta from Forward Racing Team Lorenzo Baldassari as the 2019 winner Start was able to put together. After the ailing Marco Ramirez, Hafizh Syahrin also gave up a little later. With a crash in the race, Xavi Vierge was eliminated. One lap before the end, Somkiat Chantra was also out after a crash. Except for Fernandez and Beaubier, none of the rookies really shone. Tony Arbolino as the successor to Lüthi and Schrötter’s team-mate had gotten off lightly with P16. With the penultimate place, Moto3 world champion Albert Arenas and his predecessor Lorenzo Dalla Porta were among the disappointments in the end.

Result of the first Moto2 Grand Prix in Losail

Moto2 team ranking after the first race of the season

Schedule for the second Qatar weekend

From Saturday to Sunday the changeover was to summer time, which only affects Europe and which is why the time difference to Qatar was reduced by one hour. The races take place early on Sunday evening. Of course, we report daily in our proven live blog and in a summary. It doesn’t get much faster than ours. The top ten are immediately visible on our site after they cross the target. The response from our readers was very positive and we would also like to thank everyone who reports live with tips, which we can use immediately in the best possible way. We are currently no longer showing the provisional calendar for 2021 because hardly anyone is seriously anticipating the overseas races, among other things. But races like Assen, Silverstone and Sachsenring are also considered to be severely endangered by the pandemic in the event of a visitor ban.

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