Moto2: Who can challenge Martin at Red Bull Ring #2?

One week ago the Moto2 World Championship was blown wide open in Spielberg, and this weekend the intermediate class returns for round two in Austria, the Styrian Grand Prix. 

A crash for Enea Bastianini at the beginning of lap four of the Austrian Grand Prix set off one of the most worrying crashes we have seen in Grand Prix motorcycle racing recently. The Italian high-sided, and an unsighted Hafizh Syahrin collected the stricken #33 Kalex at full speed. Syahrin thankfully avoided major injury, but the same could not be said for Bastianini’s championship advantage, which evaporated. 

Again dissimilar to Syahrin, Bastianini will have another chance this weekend, the Italian escaping the crash unharmed physically, whereas Syahrin’s attempts to return to action this weekend were stopped by the circuit medical team, who declared him unfit. 

Bastianini was in the fight for the podium when he crashed. Luca Marini was setting off in front after Marcel Schrotter and Bastianini headed a group of five or six riders just off the back of the #10 Sky Racing Team VR46 rider. This, at least, will offer encouragement for the #33 this weekend, as he looks to reclaim his points advantage. 

There was a new addition to the championship fight last week as Jorge Martin picked up a comfortable first Moto2 victory. The Spaniard now sits third in the championship, 19 points behind Marini. This comes after a tricky start to the season for Martin, as he struggled to adapt to the new Dunlop front tyre. However, consistency when he couldn’t win was key, and Martin finished each of the three races after the lockdown break and before Austria inside the top six. And whilst Martin’s first round result of 20th in Qatar was not ideal, when Marini also failed to score that night, the championship – in hindsight – looks more equal as a result. 

In that respect, the crash of Bastianini brought him level with Marini and Martin, as they now each have one non-scoring ride. 

The same could be said for Sam Lowes, who is level on points with Martin after taking his third fourth place in four races in the Austrian Grand Prix and also did not score in Qatar due to injury. Lowes was fast all weekend in the Austrian round, but missed out thanks to an average qualifying, an average start and then getting mixed up in battles towards the back of the top 10. Repeating the Red Bull Ring could provide Lowes with the opportunity to climb back onto the podium, as he did in Brno at round four. 

There was also a DNF for Tetsuta Nagashima in Austria, the Japanese rider taking his first non-score of the year at the track where he took his first pole position in 2019. The #45’s form since his hard crash at the Andalusian Grand Prix has left much to be desired, but sitting 23 points behind Marini, the options are still open for his championship – but this weekend must be a reset.

Remy Gardner’s second pole position came one week ago, but the Australian suffered for straight line speed and crashed as a result, trying to make the time back on corner entry. It’s a complaint we often hear from riders in the MotoGP class, like Marc Marquez in 2016 and 2017, or Aleix Espargaro this year on the Aprilia. In Moto2, though, it is perhaps more critical, as everyone has the same engine, and most people have the same chassis. As a result, missing speed in the straight cannot really be overcome by carrying more corner speed and, in any case, that will not help in a dogfight akin to that we saw last week over fourth place. So, finally, it is braking performance where the rider can make the difference, but this means risking more at the critical point of the corner entry. 

Gardner had no choice but to ride how he did, especially in a track like Austria where straight line speed and hard braking are the track’s most standout features, but it is also no surprise that he crashed. The Australian will likely be in the same position this weekend, and so could do with a good start and some clear track to miss the chaos that will likely reign behind.